He said primary students should instead be taught how to manage their finances and not be “burdened” by information on financial products that only benefit certain parties.

“Rather than teaching them about insurance or takaful, it is better for us to instil basic financial management skills in our children, with emphasis on handling money prudently while opposing corruption and reckless spending.

“We don’t need to introduce these topics (like takaful) to them at this stage, but instead should focus on the more fundamental aspects of financial management,” he told FMT.

Recently, the issue relating to insurance and takaful being included in primary school mathematics textbooks became a hotly debated topic among social media users, especially parents, who were generally against it.

Parents were worried that the government was coercing children to learn such challenging topics which might eventually cause them to even lose interest in mathematics.

Asyraf, who was an academic before entering politics and has a professional background in Islamic finance and banking, said it was not appropriate to teach insurance or takaful to 12-year-olds.

“I think that is not a wise decision because, at the primary school level, what is really important is to strengthen the children’s basic foundation in maths,” he added.