More action needed to resolve bullying

THE Education Ministry is not pleased with the efforts so far to address and end the bullying issue in national schools.

Deputy Minister of Education Datuk P Kamalanathan said the ministry was not happy as there were still reports of bullying cases in schools. There is a need for more action to put an end to the matter, he added.

He added that state education departments were working closely with the police to monitor the situation.

“We should be working towards zero tolerance. I am open to ideas from the people on how we can address the issue,” he said after attending an event with teachers from the Labuan Matriculation College, in Labuan recently.

“The ministry is working on strategic planning to effectively address bullying in schools and taking note of even simple things (issues) that could lead to an argument.”

Teachers, he said were trained to address disciplinary issues in schools with help of the parents and the community.

Kamalanathan commended the efforts of Labuan Education Department for effectively addressing some of the “hot spot” schools that were exposed to unhealthy activities.

Recent statistics from the Education Ministry revealed that there were more than 14,000 cases of bullying in schools between 2012 and 2015, with most of them involving physical bullying.

Although the number of reported cases had dropped over the years, there was an increase in cases in secondary schools, from 0.06% of cases in 2015 to 0.11% cases last year.

In 2015, there were 2,968 reported cases compared with 2,825 cases in 2014 and 4,120 in 2013.

Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim was reported as saying that schools should have a zero tolerance policy towards bullying. – Bernama