Corpun file 17495

Khaleej Times, Dubai, UAE, 8 March 2006

Malaysia to ban public caning of errant schoolchildren: report

(extract)

(AP) KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's schoolteachers will soon be barred from publicly whipping students for disciplinary offenses, the government announced on Wednesday.

Many schools have long punished severe infractions such as stealing, vandalism and smoking by whipping students with a rattan cane on their hands, thighs or buttocks to shame them.

However, Deputy Education Minister Noh Omar said teachers who continue using such penalties will face action if the ministry gets complaints, the national news agency, Bernama, reported.

A new government-approved code of regulations for student discipline will be introduced later this year to specify alternative penalties, Noh was quoted as saying by Bernama.

“There is no rule that allows public caning,” the minister said.

[...]

Corpun file 17465

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 9 March 2006

All out to check bullying

(extracts)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry is going all out to check bullying in schools.

“Anti-bullying should not just be a campaign, but a practice,” Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar said in launching the National Anti-Bullying Campaign 2006 at SMK Seri Permaisuri yesterday.

Coming in the wake of a task force set up by Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein two years ago to monitor and handle disciplinary problems in schools, the campaign is an effort by the ministry to integrate and improve its anti-bullying measures.

The ministry has printed posters with its anti-bullying hotline number and introduced a guidebook for the school authorities as well as a complaints website. 

(From left) Mohd Asyraf Badrishah, 16, Leow Mun Tung, 16, Ahmad Rusyduddin Ahmad Rostam, 16, Mohamad Adam, 17, and Mohd Syafiq Samsudin, 17, of SMK Seri Permaisuri Kuala Lumpur holding anti-bullying badges at the launch of the National Anti-Bullying Campaign 2006 by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar Wednesday. --STARpic by SAMUEL ONG

The ministry has also come up with an updated draft on standard procedures and punishments to be meted out to wayward students.

“The new draft provides specific guidelines on disciplining students so that teachers and school heads do not act on their own whims,” said Noh, pointing out that certain schools still carried out public caning, which was not allowed by the ministry.

The draft, called Education Rules (Student Discipline) 2006, has been sent to the Attorney-General's chambers for enactment purposes.

[...]

Corpun file 17490

New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, 15 March 2006

When teachers fear students

By V.L. Klang

THE Education Ministry is mulling a new set of guidelines for discipline and punishing students in schools. I feel that the officials who undertook the review are more inclined to support the students than the teachers. The teachers, who must confront the students' misbehaviour daily, are being restricted in what they can do. This, I feel, will make students bolder in schools and ultimately the level of discipline will worsen. As it is, teachers are harassed by students and parents if any action is taken. Teachers' cars are scratched and broken into, and some have their homes vandalised by students.

There is an increasing number of teachers being confronted by outsiders and warned not to take action against their friends in school.

A discipline teacher was confronted by one of his students' brothers with his gang armed with parangs outside the school gates because he caned the student for fighting in school.

There was also an incident where the wife of a teacher was confronted in her home by a group of students who wanted to take revenge against her husband. Luckily, her neighbours came to her rescue before anything nasty happened.

The ministry does not have any plans to help teachers whose property is damaged and who are threatened. The only recourse available to them is to lodge a police report, but how much can the police do? They can't be protecting the teachers round-the-clock.

One of the worst rules is that a student expelled from a school can appeal against his expulsion and be readmitted to the same school. This makes the student bolder and he tends to mock the teachers.

Teachers are becoming more disillusioned and tend to turn a blind eye to students' misdeeds. The situation is brought about by the attitude of the ministry which does not bother about the welfare of its employees and tends to give warning after warning to the teachers.

The officers who make policies are isolated from the realities in school and don't bother to hear what the teachers have to say. The number of male teachers is decreasing rapidly in schools because they view the profession as lowly paid and they can earn more by working in private companies.

Does the ministry expect women teachers to become discipline teachers and confront unruly students on their own? I hope the policy-makers leave their cosy offices and go to schools and talk to teachers before doing a review, so that they will get a better idea of the real situation.

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