Ministry looks at new rules to tackle cyber bullying
GELANG PATAH: The Education Ministry is looking at adopting new disciplinary guidelines for teachers to tackle cyber bullying among students.
Deputy Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan said Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid has instructed the ministry to look into the guidelines and strengthen it.
“The guidelines are already there for the teachers but we must improve these to make them more relevant by including, as an example, cyber bullying because now, it has become an issue.
“The ministry is making improvement to the guidelines. This involves children and we must be careful about it,” he said at a press conference after visiting SJKT Gelang Patah here yesterday.
He pointed out that under the current discipli- nary guidelines, there were no cyber bullying guidelines for teachers to take action on their students.
“Now, the Government has introduced smart classrooms in schools as it uses technology as part of its learning process
“The ministry does not want students to be pressured because of cyber bullying and it is one of the several examples of the new guidelines for teachers,” he said.
Kamalanathan added that studies on the guidelines were in the final stages and the minister would make an announcement on the matter as soon as possible.
He pointed out that there are more than 430,000 teachers throughout the country and all of them have only one intention, which is to give their best to nurture the children.
“We want both the teachers and students to be protected under the new guidelines,” he said, adding that only a school principal or a disciplinary teacher can take action against students.