Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s arrival is welcomed by guests at the event

IPOH, 16 May 2026 – Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim called on educators to continue upholding human values, compassion and morality in the national education system as the world faces various technological challenges and global changes.

He said that although the country needs to move swiftly in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital and new technologies, education cannot be separated from efforts to shape the personality and character of future generations.

“We do not want to be left behind in new technologies and AI, but in all our efforts to achieve progress, we must never neglect human values and societal morality,” he said in his speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 55th National Teachers’ Day Celebration 2026 at Hotel Casuarina@Meru here.

According to him, the MADANI Government continues to prioritise the education sector, including increasing teachers’ salaries and allowances, as well as various efforts to upgrade school facilities nationwide.

Dato’ Seri Anwar said that an additional 3,150 new teachers were approved by the government, marking the highest record in the nation’s history since independence.

In addition, the government has implemented projects to maintain and upgrade teachers’ rooms in 3,500 schools and maintain more than 8,700 units of teachers’ quarters nationwide.

“If there is no money, I will look for it too. Education must be given priority because the future of the nation depends on the success of our education system,” he said.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek in her welcoming speech, said the theme “Guru Bitara, Nadi Negara” was chosen to elevate the role of teachers as the main driver of national education reform and the formation of a resilient and moral future generation.

At the event, the Ministry of Education (MOE) also announced 12 new initiatives to strengthen and hone the skills of educators in the country.

Among them are the free Google Certified Educator (GCE) Level 1 and Level 2 certification courses for all teachers to support professional development in digital literacy.

“This initiative involves a cost of RM40 per teacher for GCE L1 and RM100 for GCE L2,” she explained.

According to her, Malaysia is now recognised as the world’s number one country for active Google Certified Educators, involving 60,000 GCE Level 1 holders and 33,000 GCE Level 2 holders.

In addition, the MOE introduced a Special Federal Training Award (HLP) for teachers serving in hardship schools under ProKhas, including Hospital Schools, Floating Schools and rural schools in P1, P2 and P3 areas.

“They will be selected to pursue master’s and doctoral programmes in appreciation of their sacrifices in educating the nation’s children in challenging conditions,” she said.

The MOE has also expanded the Federal Teaching Scholarship to school leaders to pursue master’s studies and introduced the NODE (Network Offline Digital Environment) Project to ensure digital learning access can continue even without internet connectivity, especially in rural areas and islands.

For this purpose, Yayasan Guru Tun Hussein Onn has allocated RM1 million to strengthen the implementation of the programme under the Hardship Schools Programme, while the MADANI Government and MOE have allocated RM169 million to supply devices to every school nationwide.

To improve teachers’ wellbeing, the MOE has also added RM100 million for the maintenance and upgrading of teachers’ rooms, bringing the total allocation to RM200 million, in addition to another RM50 million for the maintenance of teachers’ quarters.

At the same time, the manual co-curricular recording system was abolished, and schools were given autonomy to manage co-curricular recording before entering the information into the Physical, Sports and Co-Curricular Assessment (PAJSK) system.

The MOE has also allocated RM10.5 million to provide additional reading materials for all 10,515 preschool classes nationwide via the PAKAT Programme, besides RM122.4 million to support the implementation of strategic school programmes, including STEM and TVET at school level.

“All these allocations will be channelled directly to schools so that teachers can implement programmes that directly impact students,” she said.

Fadhlina also announced that assistance of RM1,000 would be channelled via Yayasan Guru Tun Hussein Onn to children of teachers who obtained 10As in the 2025 SPM examination, besides announcing a 50 percent moratorium for six-month on school canteen rental payments.

Also present were the Prime Minister’s wife, Dato’ Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Perak Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Saarani Mohamad, Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Diraja Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Perak State Assembly Speaker Dato’ Seri Mohammad Zahir Abdul Khalid, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar and Perak State Secretary Dato’ Ahmad Suaidi Abdul Rahim..

Also in attendance were Perak State Exco Members, Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh, Education Ministry Secretary-General Dato’ Wan Hashim Wan Rahim and Education Malaysia Director-General Datuk Dr. Mohd Azam Ahmad.

Source : Corporate, SUK Perak.