MOE takes serious view of bullying in schools
By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 22 May 2007 1812 hrs

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SINGAPORE : The Education Ministry says it takes a serious view of bullying in schools.

Calling it a serious offence, MOE says schools adopt a mix of counselling, mediation and disciplinary measures to deal with it.

However, it adds that it is not a "frequent problem".

In 2005, 3.4 cases of bullying were reported for every 1,000 students in primary and secondary schools.

Last year, this went up marginally to 3.7 cases for every 1,000 students.

The issue came up in Parliament on Tuesday, when MP for Marine Parade GRC Seah Kian Peng cited the case of a teenage girl who was stripped and beaten by her classmates - and the whole incident was filmed.

Mr Seah said, "The nature of the cases that are being reported - do we see that the intensity, in terms of the nature of the bullying - has it taken a different fold? I also want to caution the Ministry that these are known cases; I think there are many cases which may not be (reported)."

In response, Minister of State for Education Lui Tuck Yew noted, "We are mindful that for every incident that is reported, there may be a small number or a certain number that may not be reported. The incident that the member was referring to was a very serious incident.

"I want to say that for most of the incidents of bullying we come across, they are of a very different order, different nature altogether; such extreme cases of bullying are even more rare." - CNA/ms