State, district officials to conduct anti-bullying spot checks, says education DG
PETALING JAYA : The education ministry has ordered all state education directors and district education officers to conduct spot checks on schools to curb bullying.
Education director-general Azam Ahmad said the officials must also visit boarding schools, not only to monitor but also to understand how boarding school students live.
'We need to do so without being told.
'We might visit at night to see the dormitories,' Bernama reported him as saying today.
Azam said the ministry had also told school principals to lead chants of 'Kami Benci Buli' ('We Hate Bullying') before and after each school session to instil an abhorrence for bullying among students.
Earlier today, in a statement, Azam said the education ministry will implement several anti-bullying measures, including improving standard operating procedures (SOPs) on school safety and handling disciplinary issues.
'The existing SOPs and guidelines will be reviewed to ensure they are relevant to current and future needs. Safety audits will be carried out immediately at all educational institutions, including boarding schools.
'The audit will focus on compliance with safety SOPs. The results will be presented to the ministry's top management in three months,' he said.
Azam said the ministry would also simplify its Aduan Buli portal, meant to channel complaints on bullying, to give complainants the option of remaining anonymous. This is to protect their identities as well as that of witnesses.
This follows the widely reported death of Form 1 student Zara Qairina Mahathir, who was found unconscious at 4am on July 16 after allegedly falling from the third floor of her school's hostel in Papar, Sabah.
She died at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital in Kota Kinabalu the following day.
The Attorney-General's Chambers later ordered the police to exhume her body so that a post-mortem could be conducted to help in the investigation into her death, amid allegations of bullying.
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