Parents, teachers back tougher stance on school bullying, but doubts remain over impact

She asked to remain anonymous, fearing retaliation from the other student’s family or her daughters’ school.

“I’m just really happy that within six months, something came out … I’m just happy to see that something is being done, and we need to get it done as soon as possible,” she said.

Ms Syed Hairun, who has three daughters aged 13, 11 and 8, said the new measures show that bullying is being taken seriously.

“I would say the combination of stricter consequences along with support systems is pretty important to combat bullying,” she said, adding her daughters have experienced some bullying. 

Her oldest daughter did not tell her at the time, fearing she would speak to the teacher, and only told her about it after entering secondary school. When Ms Hairun checked with teachers about her younger daughters’ experiences, she was sometimes told she did not have the full picture.

“I choose to trust the teacher, partly because I don’t know what happened in school. And I believe the teacher’s judgment about how she handled the case, they’re trained to do so,” she said.

She checks in more often with her daughters on whether the other student’s behaviour has changed, given what is at stake for their safety and mental health.

“I don’t think the punishments alone will solve the issue, because bullying often comes from deeper emotional or social influences,” she added.

“And in many cases, I believe that the parents play a very important role. Many children pick up behaviours from social circles, from relatives or their playground settings, social media or even attitudes at home.”

STANDARDISED GUIDELINES

One teacher said that while many schools had already been doing what the MOE measures touch on, making it a system-wide change would have the greatest impact.

Teachers interviewed for this story did not want to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

“Now, parents cannot argue: ‘Are you sure this follows protocol?’” said Oliver, who teaches English and mathematics at a primary school, adding the same applied to other types of misconduct.

“It’s great that there are now guidelines for us that the ministry has made very clear to everyone … that this is our stand on serious misconduct and these are the consequences.”

With a common framework, parents can no longer argue that certain consequences are unfair, he added.

Assistant Professor Cheung Hoi Shan from the National Institute of Education said unclear guidelines had long been a pain point for teachers unsure where to draw the line.

“When the definitions are not clear, then nobody knows how to act … The risk is that I may be overreacting. Is it too much to label a child as somebody who has caused harm when I don’t even know where to draw the line?”

The new framework explicitly highlights repetition and intention as hallmarks of bullying, giving everyone a shared understanding of the agreed process for handling such cases, she said.

“With that transparency, I think that is really the whole basis of building trust.”