SCHOOL BULLIES

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan asked the Minister for Education (a) if the Ministry or the schools keep records of the number of school bully incidents in primary and secondary schools and, if so, (i) how many of such cases have been reported for each of the last three years for primary schools and secondary schools respectively and (ii) how have these incidents affected the performance of the students in general and interaction among them; and if not, (iii) what is the reason and (iv) whether there are any intention or plans to keep track of such cases to ensure that the problem is not escalating; (b) how are principals and teachers equipped to deal with such incidents; (c) whether the victims and the bullies are counselled by qualified counsellors and followed up; and (d) how many qualified counsellors are attached to schools on a full-time basis to help deal with incidents of school bullies and other behavioural problems.

RAdm Teo Chee Hean: Sir, in answer to part (a) of the Question, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has in place a system to track and monitor the state of discipline in schools. Bullying is closely monitored as one of the offences in the tracking system. In answer to part (a) (i), in 2001, the number of bullying cases reported was 892, of which 350 were from the primary schools, 542 were from the secondary schools. In 2002, there were 880 cases, with 274 and 606 respectively from the primary and secondary schools. I do not have the data for three years. The number of cases each year, on average, works out to less than three per school. Schools investigate all incidents of bullying and work to resolve them quickly so that they would not adversely affect the performance of students and interaction among them.

The answer to part (b) is Discipline Masters and Mistresses are trained to manage bullying and other forms of misbehaviour in the school. There are also proactive programmes in schools, eg, Peer Support, Peer Mediation, Conflict Management, to prevent bullying. Schools have guidelines for handling school discipline. These guidelines have been useful in helping schools to deal with bullying. Where necessary, schools may also consult Guidance Specialists in the Ministry of Education.

To part (c), every school has a counselling system in place to help both pupils who are bullied and others with discipline or behavioural problems. Teachers are trained in basic counselling skills, and are able to help both the bully and the bullied.

On part (d), there are also two Teacher Counsellors in each school to guide the more difficult pupils. The Teacher Counsellors are trained in more advanced counselling skills and crisis intervention. In 2001, the School Counsellor Scheme was introduced to further augment the counselling resources in the schools. Under this scheme, education officers who have retired or left the service are specially selected, trained and deployed to schools to work with the Teacher Counsellors and teachers. There are currently 50 such School Counsellors who have been trained or are undergoing training. The Ministry of Education also works closely with professional agencies and self-help groups, where necessary, to deal with incidences of bullying as well as other incidences of behavioural problems.

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): May I know whether boxing is one of the recognised sports in our schools?

Mr Speaker: Mr Chiam, I do not see the relevance of that question. We are talking about bullying, not boxing.

Mr Chiam See Tong: Sir, there was a school principal who was a colonial officer and I believe he was in St. Andrew's school where boxing was encouraged. Normally, any bully will be put into the boxing ring and he would let them slug it out. So I wonder whether we have boxing in our schools these days.

Mr Speaker: You can talk about boxing next time. Mr Charles Chong.