KLANG: Not willing to just stand by and watch his younger sister get bullied in school, a 10-year-old boy decided he needed to do something.
While some may defend their siblings by fighting back, Umar Wafi Zulkafri went high-tech instead.
Called the Anti-Bully Notification System, the young lad invented it together with his sister Iman Hasya, 8, and his friends Muhammad Irfan Nazrin Mohd Nizaar, 12 and Muhd Waseem Zainol, 12.
The innovation would enable teachers to react immediately whenever there are cases of bullying taking place within school grounds.
The Sekolah Rendah Islam Hira' Klang student said the idea for the system came about after seeing his sister's constant tears and complaints about being bullied at the same school.
"This device with two buttons will be placed around the school including in classes and toilets.
"Those who are bullied or witness a bullying incident can hit one of the two buttons," he said, explaining that one button was for verbal bullying while the other was for physical bullying.
"When the button is pressed, a notification is immediately sent to the teachers' room and their mobile phones. The teacher will also be alerted to the location of the bullying incident so immediate action can be taken," he said when met by NSTP.
According to Umar Wafi, he plans to upgrade the invention by adding a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera so that clear evidence can be recorded.
With the invention, Umar Wafi's team bagged the Gold Award and Best Performance Award at the 2018 International Stem Olympiad and the Gold Award and Diamond Award at the Smart Selangor Young Innovator For Primary School.
Meanwile, the school's Sains, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programme coordinator Muhammad Fadhil Mahmud Fakri said Umar Wafi and his team started working on the project last year.
"This year, we plan to expand on his innovation by placing the notification system in all classes and locations where bullying often takes place.
"For now, only two classes have been fitted with the system and only the men's teachers' room can receive notification as we do not have enough funds.
"We need at least RM1,500 to place it in 40 locations we have identified including the location receivers in four women's teachers' room," he said.
He added that several other schools have expressed interest in installing the anti-bully notification system, but they want the system to be launched in their school first.