Education minister Radzi Jidin said a reporting system had been introduced whereby schools were required to report any case of bullying that happened in their premises.

He was responding to a supplementary question by Che Alias Hamid (PAS-Kemaman) on the ministry’s stand on administrators of educational institutions who tried to hide cases of bullying.

Earlier, to an original question from Che Alias on efforts taken by the government to tackle bullying in schools, including among hostel students, Radzi said the ministry had drawn up a comprehensive framework to address the problem.

It would involve strengthening and improving the existing approach with a focus on four key components – awareness, reporting, punishment and monitoring.

On awareness, he said the ministry would introduce the Sekolahku Sejahtera concept, aimed at cultivating the important values of life among school children directly or indirectly through curricular and co-curricular activities.

A reporting channel had also been provided to enable schools to report cases of bullying, he said, adding that the ministry had also issued guidelines and a guidebook on dealing with the problem.

On punishment at the school level, Radzi said the ministry had issued the Surat Pekeliling Ikhtisas (SPI), which touched on the punishment of bullies in schools or in dormitories.

“As for the monitoring in schools, it is carried out by the administrators, teachers and wardens,” he said.