RAWANG: The Education Ministry today urged students, teachers and parents to lodge reports against all cases of bullying in schools, and to facilitate this, "Bullying Complaint Boxes and Cards" have been installed in secondary schools.
This initiative is part of the 2017 National Anti-Bullying Campaign. For a start, the boxes and cards have been placed in secondary schools in Hulu Selangor.
This pilot project also involves the distribution of handbooks against bullying, said Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan.
Launching phase one of the campaign at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Taman Bunga Raya 1 here today, he said it was the job of everyone in the community to take a firm stand against bullying.
“People must lodge reports so that the authorities can find the best solution to bullying cases. If you see students in a fight in your neighbourhood, lodge a report in school or at the police station.
“Sometimes the ministry cannot take action because no reports were made. I hope schools can find solutions and investigate cases of bullying,” he said.
It only takes an innocent push or shove for fights to start, he said. "This can turn ugly or even become fatal. In the end, however, parents suffer the most.
“It starts off as light pushing, struggling, then throwing punches and eventually someone will fall down, hit their head on the wall or floor and die.
“Some students stand around and just watch, they even cheer. When all this happens and someone dies, who will be the worst hit? It is always the parents,” he said.
The percentage of students involved in bullying based on the Sistem Sahsiah Diri Murid from 2012 tol 2016 has exhibited a downward trend, from 0.08 per cent to 0.06 per cent, said Kamalanathan.
However, until June of this year as many as 0.02 per cent of school students were involved in bullying.
“We are not resting on our laurels as our main aim is to have zero bullying in schools.”
The National Anti-bullying Campaign 2017 is an initiative by the Education Ministry, Selangor Education Department, Hulu Selangor Education Office and the police.
The latest case of bullying involved a female secondary school student being beaten up by a group of girls at a school field in Kunak, Sabah.
The district education office said they will conduct an internal investigation into the case that surfaced via social media last week.
Kamalanathan also issued a stern warning to schools who attempt to hide or sweep cases of bullying under the carpet to protect the schools’ reputation.