Provision of Anti-harassment Training to Staff in Tertiary Institutions

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) in light of the need to cultivate a safe and harassment-free environment in tertiary institutions, whether the Ministry will consider (i) providing anti-harassment training to staff in tertiary institutions similar to the recommendation of the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Workplace Harassment and (ii) adapting the Advisory to formulate guidelines for tertiary institutions on student-student interactions.

The Tripartite Advisory on Managing Workplace Harassment issued in December 2015 encourages all employers to adopt measures that ensure a safe and conducive workplace. Specifically, the Advisory proposes that employers develop a harassment prevention policy, provide information and training on workplace harassment, and implement reporting and response procedures.

Our tertiary institutions agree with the principles and core values articulated in the Advisory.

All our tertiary institutions have harassment prevention policies and guidelines within their own institution-specific Codes of Conduct for staff and students. In addition, institutions have in place guidelines to govern staff-student relationships. These policies and guidelines are explained to staff and students during staff inductions, student dialogue sessions and other internal events.

When harassment incidents occur, there are various reporting channels available to persons who are affected. For instance, students can report incidents to their teacher-mentors. Some institutions, such as the Institute of Technical Education, also have a hotline for victims to report the incidents.

Our institutions will continue to adopt best practices from the Advisory to improve their human resources policies, training and communications so that they can maintain a safe and harassment-free work and learning environment for staff and students.