PUBLISHED ONMarch 07, 2025 4:08 AMByBhavya RawatPeople who record and circulate videos of bullying in schools could face punishment, said Second Minister for Education Dr Maliki Osman on Friday (March 7).
In response to parliamentary questions on school bullying and the recent Montfort Secondary School fighting case, Maliki said the Ministry of Education (MOE) and schools prefer to handle each case sensitively to "provide space and privacy for the students involved to learn from their mistakes and grow from the experience".
However, if a case is publicised online in a manner that unfairly depicts an incident, MOE may have to release information related to the case to provide a balanced view.
This would include the actions of all who were involved based on the school's investigation - to be fair to educators and all parties involved, said Dr Maliki.
He added that bystanders as well as those who record the incident and share the recordings online will also be called out, counselled and punished if necessary.
"This is to remind them not to do so, to avoid further hurting the ones who are involved, and to highlight to them that by sharing the recordings, they are endorsing the acts and are complicit," said the minister.
Acting against such bystanders would also mitigate the impulse to normalise or chase the extremes in the contest to circulate startling videos and content, he explained.
He said that while firm actions will be taken to address the parties involved in each incident, the school will also use the opportunity as a teaching moment to all its students that good conclusions cannot be formed from a video snippet, he continued.
"While we would hope that members of the public can remember that what they see or read online may not present the full facts of the case, people often react emotively to what they see online, and form quick judgments on what had happened, or who was in the right or wrong in that incident," said Dr Maliki.
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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com
