Credit : Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's X
KUALA LUMPUR, October 30, 2026 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has urged parents to take greater responsibility for their children’s upbringing, saying that educating the young cannot be left to schools and teachers alone.
Speaking to reporters after performing Friday prayers at Masjid Al-Muqarrabin in Bandar Tasik Selatan here today, Anwar said parents must keep track of their children’s development, the company they keep and their daily activities so that they do not fall into negative influences.
He later shared on X a short video clip of his remarks. “Mendidik anak-anak bukan tanggungjawab sekolah dan guru semata-mata. Ibu bapa juga perlu memainkan peranan dengan mengambil tahu perkembangan, pergaulan dan aktiviti harian anak-anak,” he wrote, meaning that educating children is not solely the responsibility of schools and teachers, and that parents must also play their part. He added that parents should not hand over the task of educating their children to others so completely that they no longer know what is happening in their lives.
‘Some parents do not even know’
In the video, Anwar said cooperation from parents and families was very important for children. He said there were parents who did not even know whether their children were reading, whether they were coming home at night, whether they were doing their homework, or whether they were starting to get close to drugs.
“So, can we sometimes also make this call, besides the calls I hear every day for the government to act? I want to take this opportunity to call on parents to take responsibility,” he said.
Anwar said that seeing the children, who were innocent, affectionate and well-behaved, touched him deeply. “But I worry about their lives and their future if parents simply give up and leave them entirely to their circumstances and surroundings, without supervising and educating them,” he said.
Cabinet discussed mental health and autism
The Prime Minister said the Cabinet meeting earlier on Friday had discussed a range of issues, including mental health problems and autism, which needed to be addressed through collective effort, with parents and families playing an important role, according to reports by RTM, Malay Mail and The Star.
He also reminded parents to instil positive values in their children’s lives, including performing their prayers, revising their lessons, respecting their teachers and appreciating their parents, RTM reported. Efforts to build a disciplined generation with good character could not depend on the government alone and had to begin with the family, he said.
A recurring theme
The call echoes remarks Anwar made in the Dewan Rakyat on October 6, when he said the safety and wellbeing of pupils was a shared responsibility of parents and educators and could not be left to schools alone. He said then that there were 10,259 primary and secondary schools nationwide, with more than five million pupils and 428,379 teachers, and that parents should strengthen their children’s religious and moral upbringing, including respect for teachers, RTM reported.
On the same day, he warned schools against covering up bullying and abuse cases to protect their image, saying it was the children who suffered, Malay Mail reported. He stressed at the time that the point was not to blame parents, but that the family was the foundation for shaping children and for the strength of the nation.
Source : Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s X (https://x.com/anwaribrahim/status/2116081307163746577), with details from RTM, Malay Mail and The Star.
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