KUALA LUMPUR: Cleaning toilets should not be viewed as a degrading task.
In fact, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim believes that getting students to clean the toilets they use at school would help instil values in them.
The prime minister said he had instructed Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek to check on the condition of school toilets, and the report he received revealed that many school toilets had been in deplorable and neglected condition for many decades.
He questioned how it was possible for children to go to school when the toilets they used were in such poor state.
"They (students) are humans. They are not 'dewa', who do not need to go to the toilet. They must be trained to clean toilets.
"When I was the education minister (1986–1991), I directed all schools to put students on rotation to clean toilets. But one upper-class parent sent me a telegram and reminded me that his child was sent to school to be educated, not to clean toilets.
"Getting educated is also about learning to be clean and respecting other people, including the cleaners.
"When our children are trained to clean, they will appreciate their mothers who clean after them, as well as those who sweep the roads and clean public toilets. They will also have respect for work values," he said at the launch of D'Anjung Selera Madani Jalan Jujur in Bandar Tun Razak here today.
Anwar said students should be responsible for the facilities they use.
He said such tasks as cleaning toilets would teach students about cleanliness and encourage them to appreciate the contribution of school staff.
"Students who do not want to clean toilets, it is okay. Those who refuse, we give them 'ease' of not using toilets, as they are like 'dewa'.
"But this is about training to change the attitude. Sometimes, the upper-class people are not concerned or have compassion for the lower-class group."
Present were Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali, Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Kamarulzaman Mat Salleh and Bandar Tun Razak member of parliament Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.