Zaharom Nain, who is a professor at the University of Nottingham, said social work was already included in the curriculum for university students in Malaysia, but that such awareness should be fostered at an earlier age.

“I think an earlier recognition of life outside of school and campus, and a continuous engagement with real society, is necessary.

“We can’t stay in our ivory towers,” Zaharom, who is chairman of academics movement Gerak, told FMT.

He was responding to a recent Reuters’ report that a group of university students in Iraq had launched a campaign to help rebuild the central library of Mosul University, which was destroyed in the war against Islamic State fighters.

The report said the students had found some 30,000 books almost intact, buried under layers of ash.

Zaharom said being aware of life outside schools and universities, and of the hardships of ordinary people, was an important part of development.

However, he warned that merely adding subject matters to the curriculum would not work unless the entire syllabus was reviewed.

“Much of the curriculum in schools essentially involves rote learning. Unless and until the whole structure is changed, putting little things into the curriculum will not make any real sense in terms of creating awareness.

“The whole idea of what education is, especially at the secondary and tertiary levels, should be examined.

“So, yes, social work should be made part of the curriculum but in the end, it all depends on what the whole curriculum is about. I think that’s the wider structural aspect that needs to be looked at first,” he said.