Education director-general Azam Ahmad said KP2027 aimed to reposition schools as spaces that foster values, cultivate intellectual discipline and shape students’ personalities, rather than merely places to pursue academic results.

In a Bernama report, Azam, who served as an educator for 24 years before leading the education ministry, said values would no longer be taught abstractly or confined to textbook topics.

He said students must see how respect is shown, empathy is expressed and tolerance is practised.

“Respect for teachers and peers is demonstrated in the classroom,” he said during a KP2027 briefing with the media.

“Cleanliness and responsibility are nurtured through habits such as cleaning the table after meals, while tolerance is instilled through simple actions like waiting in line at the canteen.

“The values we want to foster are not just on paper but values that are clear and ‘living’, such as being happy together, helping one another and compromising when making decisions.

“This character development element will appear across all subjects and in all interactions, not as a stand-alone subject,” he said.

The ministry’s curriculum development division director Nooraini Kamaruddin, who was also present at the KP2027 briefing, said the ministry would introduce a character development programme from preschool through upper secondary.

At the preschool level, character-building will take place continuously through daily routines such as arranging shoes, sharing food, helping friends and maintaining cleanliness.

At the primary and secondary school levels, the ministry will allocate 60 minutes a week to the character development programme, which will be carried out through practical, hands-on learning.