5 days ago
Bullying is not a rite of passage, say educators
PETALING JAYA: Bullying in schools should never be condoned, as it is a crime and not a tradition to be passed on, say educators.
Recent cases, such as that of Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir, have sparked concerns that school authorities tend to turn a blind eye to bullying and believe it's all part of peer play.
Zara Qairina fell to her death from her hostel building at SMA Tun Datu Mustafa in Papar, Sabah, on July 16 and police have just completed the probe into her case for alleged bullying.
While Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying in its junior science colleges (MRSM), counselling teachers from secondary schools said that there are already standard operating procedures set by the Education Ministry to deal with bullying.
'At Mara, we have zero-tolerance for bullying. My tagline is: 'You Touch, You Go',' said Mara chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.
Mara has a pilot project to hire retired army and police personnel as full-time wardens in selected MRSMs, starting with MRSM Besut and Balik Pulau on Aug 15, to help ease the burden of teachers in hostels, he added.
Mara is also reinforcing its value-based education through a framework that shapes how students live, lead and interact.
Every student also gets regular check-ins with teachers and counsellors and all cases must be investigated urgently and transparently, Asyraf said.
'Communities must reject the notion that bullying is a 'rite of passage'. If a child is afraid to sleep in a dormitory, then we have failed. Not just as educators, but as a society,' Asyraf added.
Dyana, a secondary school counselling teacher in a northern state, said that there are five actions that need to be taken within 24 hours of a bullying case.
'We first contact the parents or guardians of the students involved – both the perpetrator and the victim,' said Dyana, who has been a teacher for 22 years.
The students involved are then sent to a government clinic or hospital for examination to assess if they have sustained any physical injuries or emotional distress.
'We must then record the bullying misconduct in the Student Discipline Management System (SSDM),' she said before an initial report is made in accordance with an Education Ministry circular on student discipline Issues.
The initial report is sent to the district education office, the state education department and the Education Ministry, said Dyana, a pseudonym as teachers are not allowed to speak to the media.
If the victim's parents neglect the child's condition, the Child Act 2001 empowers the principal to report the matter to the Social Welfare Department for further action, she said.
Another teacher in Selangor said that the characteristics of a bully include the desire to dominate and control others, and lack of empathy.
'Sometimes it is a way to cope with their own emotional or mental distress,' said the teacher, Rajini (not her real name), who has served in a secondary school for the past decade.
'Family and environmental issues can also turn someone into a bully. They usually have poor social skills, lack social interaction and are usually short-tempered and rule-breakers.'
Bully victims often also have family issues, forcing them to humiliate themselves in order to be accepted by their peers.
'Pressure to be accepted by their peers may also cause someone to either become a bully or a victim, for fear of being isolated or ostracised,' she added.
