SHAH ALAM: The stabbing incident at SMK Subang in Shah Alam was an isolated incident, said Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Do.

He said the school did not have any serious disciplinary problems and put the incident down to a problem between two friends.

He said this after getting a detailed report from the school principal yesterday afternoon.

"This is an isolated case. We have over 10,000 schools and only one or two of them are problematic and have disciplinary problems. From what I gather the girl and the boy are friends."

This is the second disciplinary problem reported in schools in the past week. The earlier incident occurred in SMK Perlis in Kangar where a teacher was beaten up by a student.

Alimuddin said the SMK Subang headmistress had told him that this was an isolated case and that the school had never had any disciplinary problems.

However, it learnt that the student who stabbed the girl was known to have been in fights with other students in the school.

"He is a problematic child. It is not the first time he has hurt someone," said an employee of the school.

"Recently, he got into a fight with a group of students and had stitches all over his face."

Alimuddin said that the girl should not worry about her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations as she would be allowed to take the exams anywhere if she was unwell.

"The examinations are next month. We can even make arrangements for her to take her papers in hospital," he said, adding that he would visit the school soon.

On steps taken by the ministry to reduce disciplinary problems, he said the ministry had stationed counsellors in schools.