Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that he will work harder to expedite the repair of school toilets, for the well-being of students.

Taking to Facebook, Anwar thanked a nine-year-old student named Maryam for writing a letter relaying the poor condition of the toilets at her school.

The letter

He attached photos of the letter she wrote to the Malaysian Prime Minister.

"My name is Maryam and my age is [nine] years old," she said, introducing herself.

"I want to tell you about my school's bathroom. As much as I appreciate your task to make school toilets clean I don't think my school's toilets are clean. Only two toilets in my school have toilet bowls. On the highest floor in my school is where my class is. On the left side of my class is the toilet.

In the first stall of the toilet is a squat toilet. Yes a squat toilet[.] Beside[s] the squat toilet is a hole that looks like a spider can crawl out any second. The rest of the stalls are the same. So please visit my school and take a look at the toilet.

I saw so [many] renovated pictures of school toilets that look nice[.] However my school did not seem to look like that. For your info, only two toilets have toilet bowls. So please bring more toilet bowls for my school. And the last thing to tell you is the ceiling of the toilet. At this moment two of the ceiling tiles are missing," Maryam wrote.

In response, Anwar said: "Thank you Maryam. I will work harder and expedite to resolve this problem for the sake of the well-being of the children in schools."

The photo of the letter did not reveal the location of the student's school.

You can see the letter below:

Maintain and repair public toilets nationwide

During the tabling of Budget 2024 on Friday (Oct. 13), Anwar said that the country's project to repair toilets in 8,354 schools will be completed by this year, Malaysiakini reported.

As part of their plans, the government will be allocating RM150 million (S$43.4 million) to maintain and repair public toilets nationwide, including in schools and hawker centres.

Anwar said the initiative is aimed at making Malaysia known for its beautiful and clean business premises.

He also added that it was not acceptable for children to endure having damaged and dilapidated toilets in schools.

"It was unthinkable that all this while we had allowed our children to go to school with poor facilities, especially those with broken and unmaintained toilets," Anwar said, as quoted by Malaysiakini.

Top image via Anwar Ibrahim/Facebook