Spotlight on ‘hotspot’ schools
Indiscipline and drugs in schools are problems that have been around for a long time. These are now being aggressively tackled by the Education Ministry and police, who have drawn up a list of 402 schools that are at risk. These schools will get all the resources and attention they need to overcome the issues. A special committee has also been set up under the ministry to handle the problem.
PETALING JAYA: Parents should not be alarmed if their child’s school is on the leaked list of “hotspots”, said Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim.
“The criteria for hotspot schools are very tight and also precautionary,” she said, adding that it was good for the police to monitor these schools before any potential problem “becomes too large to contain and control”.
The principal of one school said he had no idea how it got classified as a hotspot because discipline was under control.
“It might be a video clip of bullying that was circulated last year, but our students were not the bullies. One girl in the video, who was in our school uniform, was the victim,” he said.
“There was also an incident last year where loan sharks plastered posters of a student and members of his family outside the school. But it had nothing to do with our students.
“I am not sure if these incidents contributed.”
A teacher from another school praised the ministry’s attempt to clamp down on bullying and drug abuse cases which were on the rise but expressed disappointment that the ministry had not done enough research to identify the true “hotspot schools”.
She added that the ministry should have notified the schools about the list first.
National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan Huat Hock said it was unfair to have such a list in the first place, as it put those schools in a bad light.
He expressed surprise that some schools were included because they were known to be good schools with model students and staff.
Tan also said that teachers should receive better training to handle more serious matters such as bullying, drugs and gangsterism.
Educationist Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam, a former NUTP secretary-general, said the ministry had made a good move and advised schools on the list to not take offence.
“Being identified does not mean the school gets a black mark, it just means that the ministry is trying to help with the age-old problems of gangsterism, bullying and drug abuse,” he said.
Siva Subramaniam urged parents to stop putting the blame on schools and step up to help them tackle serious issues instead.
He also called for more power to be given to discipline teachers, pointing out that parents tended to be overprotective of their children and constantly blamed teachers for punishing them.
A student said she could not believe her school was identified as a hotspot with disciplinary problems.
“I can’t really think of any serious cases that caused the school to be on the list,” said the 17-year-old from Penang.
She added that police had visited the school before but only to launch their Bulan Disiplin programme.