The government is mulling plans to incorporate sex education into the national school curriculum, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.

"This is one of the initiatives (to combat baby dumping) to give a better understanding of reproductive health at school level," he said after chairing a National Social Council meeting in Putrajaya today.

NONE Muhyiddin ( left ) said the government had launched several pilot projects teaching sex education at school-level and found the results to be encouraging.

"We have set up a technical committee, which is studying this matter, and it will determine the best way, should we decide to expand this programme nationally.

"We see this as one of the ways to build understanding among our children, especially in schools, so that they become more aware of their responsibilities," he said.

Muhyiddin said the council has also drawn up a comprehensive plan to manage the baby dumping issue, which would involve multi-pronged initiatives by the government in cooperation with civil society.

"We want to strengthen the family institution, and also promote morals and ethics in society, as well as focus on religious education," he said.

On the proposed revamp of the National Civics Bureau (BTN), Muhyiddin said the government would take the necessary steps to bring it up-to-date with current times.

"At this juncture, there is yet to be a specific decision, but we acknowledge that BTN has a special function and role, so we will need to change it in terms of its modules and anything else that is needed," he said.

Late last year, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that the cabinet had agreed to revamp the content of BTN courses to fall in line with his 1Malaysia concept.

There has been no follow up to his announcement, aside from sparks of controversy that the bureau is a racist propaganda machine, the latest being the alleged description of Chinese as si sepet (slit eyes) and Indians as si botol (alcoholics) by a senior officer during a recent course.