LET’S LISTEN TO KIDS TO FIGHT BULLYING

ARECENT survey, which revealed that at least seven out of 10 children in Malaysia are worried about bullying, should be an eyeopener as to how serious the issue is.

The global survey by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) also showed that the ratio was higher compared with three out of 10 in Japan and four out of 10 in the United Kingdom.

This shows that children are calling for bullying to be addressed. Unfortunately, the survey showed that 54 per cent of children felt that their opinions fell on deaf ears.

This issue is important in view of the spate of bullying and violent cases, and, in some instances, death.

Bullying and violence should be kept in check.

Hardly a day passes without violence committed at home, school or elsewhere.

The Education Ministry’s Students’ Discipline Misconduct System shows 1,054 cases had been reported until June.

Last year, the number of bullying cases was 3,448, a 14.5 per cent increase from 3,011 cases in 2015.

In 2014, there were 2,901 cases. There were also 1,833 cases of physical bullying in secondary schools and 671 cases in primary schools last year.

Up to June this year, 706 physical bullying cases were reported in secondary schools and 106 in primary schools.

I hope the authorities prioritise the teaching of mutual respect among students so that they respect each other and appreciate one another’s differences.

We must inculcate mutual respect into them in terms of religion, race and gender to the extent that our children will protect each other from being discriminated, intimidated or bullied.

In this context, Moral Education should be reinforced in schools to emphasise the importance of the 36 noble values.

It’s not enough to just memorise them. Students must understand, appreciate, and live and breathe the values.

Whatever is taught must be practised. What we want to achieve is children with values of caring, honesty, fairness, responsibility and respect for self and others.

We must ensure that our children are physically, mentally and emotionally healthy.

The 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey showed that 4.2 million Malaysians aged 16 and above, or 29.2 per cent of the population, suffered from mental health problems.

There must be more mental health programmes in schools and counsellors with psychology background to handle children who are depressed and disturbed.

Experts have cited that anxiety and depression are the main causes of mental health problems among students.

Malaysians must reject bullying and violent behaviour as recent cases have shown that the perpetrators included primary and secondary school students, teenagers and working adults.

Most minors get into crime because of negative peer influence, lack of parental guidance, and bad influence from the Internet.

We must listen to our children and address the problem urgently.

As the Unicef survey shows, 95 per cent of Malaysian children believe that the world would be a better place if leaders heard their pleas, and acted on them.

Parents, too, must spend time with their children, listen to their problems and fears, and empathise with them, and rejoice in their achievements.