HUMAN RIGHTS MODULE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL INTRODUCTION Human rights education is defined as the learning, training and information aimed at creating a social culture that respects individual rights irrespective of his/her background. Human rights education that is effective does not only enhance one’s knowledge concerning human rights; it also instils the attitudes and behaviour that contribute to the promotion, nurturing and practice of the human rights culture in one’s daily life. Specifically, human rights education has the following aims: i. to reinforce respect for human rights and fundamental liberties; ii. to develop fully one’s personality and dignity; iii. to promote understanding, tolerance, equality and loyalty regardless of the individual’s background ; iv. to empower each and every individual to be effectively involved in a free and democratic society that is regulated by the rule of law; v. to ensure and maintain peace; and vi. to promote sustainable development that is centred on the people and social justice. Thus, human rights education offers additional knowledge and skills to the process of reinforcing students’ appreciation of the knowledge, values, citizenship, socio-cultural norms and value-added skills that are already available in the school textbooks in Malaysia. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) was established by the Parliament of Malaysia through the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999 (Act 597) and is entrusted with, inter alia, inculcating awareness and providing education related to human rights. Based on this mandate, since the inception of its operations in 2000, SUHAKAM has collaborated with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and other educational institutions to provide human rights education. Various human rights talks and training programmes have been conducted for students, teachers, undergraduates and lecturers to create awareness on and respect of human rights. In order to reinforce the delivery of human rights education, in 2009, SUHAKAM with the full cooperation of the MOE introduced the Human Rights Best Practices programme (known by its Malay initialism, ATHAM) in schools. The aim of the programme is to create ‘human rights friendly schools’, i.e., schools that adopt human rights in the education of the students. The programme encourages the creation of a school environment and community that are sensitive to human rights and child rights in teaching, learning, and the management and administration of schools as well as the inculcation of the attitude of mutual respect and responsibility in the entire school community. In 2018, the ATHAM programme was conducted in 222 schools selected by the MOE based on several criteria that were determined collectively. It involved secondary, primary, vernacular, religious and Orang Asli/Asal (indigenous peoples) schools in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. 2