Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid said the organisers, including agencies of other ministries, must first brief the relevant PPD on the contents of the training modules before permission is given to the school to take part in the programme.

“The ministry allows such team-building programmes to build up the self-confidence of pupils to continue but they must not involve matters which can traumatise them,” he told a media conference after attending his ministry’s monthly gathering here today.

Mahdzir issued the directive following an incident in Perak that involved the use of snakes and an excessive fear factor.

In a video recording of the incident, which became viral, a group of female pupils were seen crying and screaming after snakes were thrown into a muddy pool they were crossing.

This was supposedly a test to challenge their bravery under the training module.

Commenting on the incident, Mahdzir said it would not have happened if the organiser had complied with the standard operating procedures (SOP) of the team-building programmes organised by the ministry.

Taking the Student Integration Plan For Unity (Rimup), organised by the ministry as an example, he said the SOP for the programme stipulated that the activity focus on efforts to strengthen unity in the young and multiracial generations in the country.

On the pupils involved in the incident, he said the Perak Education Department and Kuala Kangsar PPD had taken early measures, including counselling them to tackle their trauma.

On the issue of bullying, Mahdzir said there was a misunderstanding on the ministry’s proposal to suspend students who bully other students for a year.

He said the suspension period only involved the current year the case takes place and would not be brought over to the next year.

“If the offence is committed in June 2016, the case is only effective until December the same year, and not brought forward until June 2017 to complete the one-year punishment period,” he said.