What Needs To Change

For this review to have real impact, there must be concrete plans to assure parents that schools have considered what they had learnt from previous experiences, and what can be changed to improve processes for future cases.

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and children to feel anxious," said Mr Lee. He added that more support will be provided to enhance the capacity of schools and educators to manage bullying and strengthen communication with parents.

Disciplinary committees could do more to help teachers handle bullying cases better.

Instead of leaving the bulk of the legwork to form teachers, schools can empower teachers in their discipline committee to conduct investigations, track recalcitrants and communicate with parents consistently.

However, this would mean relieving teachers in this committee from other duties so that they have the bandwidth to deal with cases from start to finish.

Mr Lee mentioned four areas of focus to tackle bullying – strengthening school culture, focusing on values education, supporting teachers, and school-parent partnerships. The ministry needs to implement these with practical measures.