Among its main tasks would be to look into hostel rules and explore the setting up of an anti-bullying tribunal.

The special committee will hold its first meeting on Sept 2. Chaired by law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said, the committee will coordinate efforts across ministries and agencies to standardise procedures to deal with bullying, especially after recent changes to the law.

The formation of the committee comes after a spate of widely publicised cases of bullying in schools, the most prominent being the death of Form 1 student Zara Qairina Mahathir after allegedly falling from the third floor of her school’s hostel in Papar, Sabah, last month.

Clear elements of bullying, neglect, and sexual harassment were uncovered by the investigation into her death, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said last week.

Last year, the number of school bullying cases reported rose by 17% to over 7,600, prompting Suhakam to label it a “child safety crisis”.