Chapter 1 - Report of the Education and Public Relations Group (f) Workload of Teachers The Commission has previously brought to the attention of the MOE the need to include human rights education in the school system, as the level of awareness is still very low or even absent. However, the Commission recognises that teachers have a heavy workload and does not wish to impose extracurricular activities on human rights. The Commission instead hopes to work closely with the MOE to integrate human rights into the curriculum, to enable early exposure to students. 2. TRAINING FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES (a) Police Force The Commission has conducted human rights talks and training programmes for police officers and personnel since 2002, in collaboration with the Police Training Division of Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur. The Police Training Division and the Commission continue to work closely to improve the curriculum. Over the year, the Commission conducted a workshop at the Police Training Centre in Langkawi and gave four lectures at the Training Centres in Cheras and Kuala Kubu Baru, Selangor. Such training should be conducted regularly and consistently to ensure that human rights are practised by police personnel in carrying out their duties and responsibilities. The programme exposes participants to the need to promote and protect human rights, and develops their ability to prepare human rights-based procedures for subordinates in executing daily tasks. (b) People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA) The Commission conducted two human rights awareness workshops for RELA district officers and new recruits to enable them to recognise and uphold the human rights of the public. The programme, launched in 2007, assists them to test procedures and their conduct in relation to fundamental human rights. (c) Prison Department Under the on-going programme, three workshops were conducted to integrate the concept of human rights into daily duties, with emphasis on the rehabilitation of prisoners. Also explained were international human rights standards relevant to the work of prison officials, and their need to understand and respect the rights of prisoners, especially children, women and juveniles. The Commission has been working with the Prison Department to draft a permanent human rights curriculum for prison officials. This was implemented in training courses from the year under review. Ten prison officers have been assisting the Commission to draft the curriculum and run ‘Training for Trainers’ (TOT) courses. They will continue to conduct human rights programmes for their counterparts, with the Commission’s support. 26