Review of Measures and Help Provided in Student Bullying Incidents

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Education how are schools helping students who are bullied to restore their confidence and rebuild their identity and self-worth.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Education (a) what steps are taken by the Ministry and schools to prevent occurrences of bullying incidents in schools; (b) what is the level of collaboration between schools and the Singapore Police Force in cases where the bullying of students happen outside of the schools; and (c) whether there are adequate monitoring and surveillance to pick up early indications of bullying situations and what are the pre-emptive and preventive measures.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Education (a) in each year of the past five years, how many reports has the Ministry received regarding incidents of bullying that occurred within or outside of school premises; and (b) in view of the recent bullying incidents at an Institute of Technical Education campus, a secondary school and a primary school, whether the Ministry currently has in place an anti-bullying policy at all schools.

Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Education (a) what specific criteria are used to determine whether an incident is to be classified as bullying that warrants action to be taken by the educational institution; (b) whether the Ministry has conducted any recent surveys among students to assess the prevalence of bullying in schools; and (c) what are the interventions and support provided to teachers to help them deal with bullying cases in the course of their work.

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry tracks the number of reported bullying cases in schools; (b) if so, what is the number of bullying cases in each year of the last five years; (c) if not, why not; and (d) what resources and policies are being put in place in schools to enhance the detection, reporting and correction of bullying cases.

Ms Hany Soh asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry has observed a rising trend in bullying cases involving school students; and (b) how can the Ministry better prevent bullying of school students and support victims of bullying.

Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Education (a) in the last five years, what are the observed trends relating to the number of bullying cases schools have received; (b) what is the breakdown between online and offline bullying incidents reported to schools; and (c) whether there are any special guidelines given or approaches taken for cases of bullying involving students with neurodiverse conditions or disabilities and, if so, what are they.

Sir, my apologies, till Question No 27.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) takes a serious view of all forms of hurtful behaviour, from once-off insensitive remarks to more persistent, intentional acts of bullying and even physical violence. Schools and IHLs have rules and regulations which prohibit any form of bullying. Our schools and IHLs educate students against these negative behaviours and work with families, the community and partners to intervene promptly and address them.

Members Ms Hany Soh, Mr Gerald Giam, Mr Louis Chua asked about the trends in bullying incidents. In the last five years, the average number of bullying incidents has remained steady. For every 1,000 students, there were an average of two incidents in primary schools and six incidents in secondary schools annually for any form of bullying, both within and outside of school. Of these, incidents involving the use of technology averaged less than one incident per 1,000 secondary students and even fewer in primary schools each year.

Members Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim and Dr Wan Rizal asked about how MOE educates our students and equips them to deal with threats of bullying. From young, students learn pro-social behaviours through lessons and role-modelling. Through the Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) curriculum and a school environment that emphasises values and respect, students acquire skills to be kind to their classmates, resolve disagreements respectfully and stand up against bullying.

Students learn what to do when they encounter unsafe situations. Stay calm, do not retaliate, but move away and seek help from adults nearby, and alert their teachers and parents. These lessons extend to the cyberspace. Through cyber wellness lessons, students learn to be respectful and responsible users online. Whether online or offline, they should report any incident of bullying to their teachers or School Leaders.

As students sometimes prefer to turn to their friends for support, schools have established peer support networks and trained students to help and look out for one another, and in conflict management.

These educative efforts continue in our IHLs, which raise awareness about anti-bullying through modules teaching respect and appropriate behaviour, as well as peer support structures.

Members Mr Yip Hon Weng, Ms Hazel Poa, Mr Christopher de Souza and others asked about the intervention and support for bullying victims and perpetrators, and how schools collaborate with families, community partners and Police to address them. Teachers are trained to create a positive classroom culture, recognise distressed students, and proactively address hurtful behaviours and bullying. All pre-service teachers receive this training, and new teachers are supported by experienced staff and school counsellors. In-service teachers also receive refresher training as part of their professional development.

When any incident of bullying within or outside schools is reported, schools and IHLs conduct thorough investigations before deciding on the appropriate course of action. We adopt a tiered approach based on the severity of incident. In cases arising from careless remarks and misunderstandings, teachers guide students to resolve their differences and reach a common understanding. For cases involving persistent, intentional acts of bullying, serious disciplinary actions are taken in addition to the restorative actions. For cyber bullying incidents, schools guide students to report these to the online service provider. When schools and IHLs come to know of any incident of severe bullying or fights, they work closely with parents and the authorities to ensure students' well-being and safety. They also mete out the necessary disciplinary consequences and guide students to change their thinking and behaviours so that they can learn to be responsible members of the community.

Similarly, our schools and IHLs consider the seriousness of the incident and take into consideration the profile and needs of the students involved, when taking disciplinary actions. Schools may put perpetrators on detention or even suspend them from attending lessons. Caning is used as a last resort for boys and carried out in an appropriate manner only by authorised adults. For severe bullying or fights, a Police report will be made and perpetrators will face legal consequences in accordance with the law.

Whenever a student is affected by bullying, whether as a victim or perpetrator, the teachers and school counsellors provide emotional support to help the student cope and mend relationships. Students who continue to be distressed will be referred to community resources such as the Response, Early Intervention and Assessment in Community mental Health (REACH) teams for more specialised support.

The objective of these educative and restorative efforts is to help students learn from their mistakes. These efforts are taken to turn the bully around, rather than just "expelling" or suspending them from school. When relationships are affected due to conflicts and misconduct, schools and institutions take steps to educate, discipline and restore relationships in the school community, and these efforts require parents' support and partnership.

Parental guidance and partnerships are vital in shaping children's character. Parents guide their children by role-modelling positive behaviour and interaction with others. When a child faces bullying, parents are encouraged to remain calm and provide emotional support, reinforcing pro-social values and coping skills. Similarly, when a child has bullied someone, parents can guide their child to learn from the mistake, apologise sincerely and make amends. As mending relationships and improving behaviour require time and practice, parents are encouraged to collaborate closely with schools to address the situation effectively.

When students witness bullying incidents, they are reminded not to record and share the incidents online to avoid further hurting the parties involved. Similarly, when videos become viral, everyone should exercise care in responding to them. Circulating such materials, trying to doxx the student perpetrators or calling for them to be ostracised, could isolate them even more, drive them to extremes and make it harder for them to mend their ways. The bullying perpetrators often also need help to turn over a new leaf. As a society, we must be careful not to normalise such behaviours unintentionally. Let us stand together to discourage copycats and attempts to out-viral the last bullying video.

MOE will continue to work with schools to share good practices and review the strategies to manage bullying. We will continue to update these education and intervention measures and partner parents to create caring and safe learning environments for our students.

I thank Members of Parliament and members of the public for showing their concern about this issue. With your help to monitor community and online spaces to keep our students safe and to stop bullying incidents among students when you witness them, we will be that village that raises our children well.

Finally, Mr Speaker, Sir, bullying is a multi-faceted issue that defies one-size-fits-all solutions. It requires a nuanced approach that carefully considers the well-being and reform of both victims and perpetrators. We all hold the power and duty to support each other and to foster an environment where healing and change are possible. We want to steer clear of actions that might hinder or deny a perpetrator's chance for rehabilitation, such as counter-productive social media behaviours. True justice blends punishment with rehabilitation.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for sharing on the efforts in trying to tackle bullying in schools. While it is reassuring to hear the efforts that we have made to equip teachers in schools with the tools to manage bullying, the recent cases of both physical and psychological bullying highlight the need for us to have continuous evaluation. The long-lasting emotional impact on victims is vital to ensure schools have adequate resources to address these challenges effectively. Furthermore, the detection and reporting processes must remain robust to prevent unreported cases from escalating. Over the years, I have seen students who have been bullied, but they are afraid to come forward, simply because of the retaliation.

With that, I would like to ask the following supplementary questions. Firstly, could the Minister provide more details on how it evaluates the effectiveness of the teacher training in detecting unreported cases of bullying, especially psychological and online bullying? How does the Ministry ensure that schools maintain an adequate ratio of counsellors to support students, particularly those schools that may have a higher incidence of bullying? And finally, what are some considerations that the Ministry would take before anti-bullying policies are being reviewed to ensure continued relevance and effectiveness?

Mr Speaker, Sir, I will make three short responses to the three supplementary questions. First, I do not think there is an easy or simple, and certainly, we do not want simplistic, way to measure the effectiveness of our measures. Ultimately, the test of the pudding is, do our students feel safe in school, do our students feel that they have a good school environment where they can interact with their peers with respect?

Second, on the ratio of counsellors, as I have mentioned in my speech and before, we allocate the number of counsellors based on the following considerations. One, while all schools have a baseline number of counsellors, they are reinforced according to the specific needs. There are some schools with higher needs and we will reinforce them with the necessary numbers.

Third, it does not mean that we depend only on counsellors. All teachers are trained to a certain extent and we work in partnership with the community and the teachers.

On the third supplementary question about when we will review the policies, we constantly review the policies and we apply the measures according to the needs of the respective schools as well.

Thank you, Sir. I would like to follow up on my Parliamentary Question (PQ) on the schools' monitoring and surveillance of bullying cases, whether in school or outside and whether the schools collaborate closely with the Police.

I believe the monitoring and surveillance is important to pick out early indications, telltale signs that there are situations of bullying. And so, I would like to ask the Minister in terms of resourcing for the schools, whether the schools are equipped or resourced enough to be able to do that monitoring and surveillance.

Also, given that the cases now are increasingly more complex and with the workload of the teachers as well, one would really have to step up resources to be able to reduce the cases of bullying.

Mr Speaker, Sir, on the first supplementary question, certainly, MOE and our schools collaborate with community partners and the Police, where relevant, to help monitor and also to counsel our students on such issues. We will continue to do that.

On the second point, Mr Liang Eng Hwa says that issues are becoming much more complex. Indeed, it is so. The environment has become more complex. Part of it is that, today, we live in a hyperconnected world. Students have access to many things on the Internet, relationships are becoming much more complex, not just between and amongst students, but relationships and expectations are also becoming much more complex with parents.

So, if I can point out something: when students have issues, we try to mend the relationships, guide the students on the positive trajectory. Very often, we will also need the partnership of the parents and, sometimes, in very unfortunate circumstances, the adults can also be a complicating factor when children quarrel.

Sir, I thank the Minister for his replies. Will MOE consider implementing nationwide school programmes that encourage and guide students who witness bullying to not just be bystanders, but upstanders, where students learn ways to identify, intervene and support peers who are being bullied and report the bullying?

This could shift the peer culture by making it clear to the bullies that they do not have the approval of their peers and assuring the victims that they are not alone.

Secondly, does MOE have clear baseline anti-bullying policies across all schools and IHLs, and do these policies spell out actions that should be taken in response to reports of bullying and measures to protect both victims and upstanders from retaliation?

Mr Speaker, Sir, on the first supplementary question, these programmes are already part of our CCE package and programme.

On the second supplementary question, there are, indeed, baseline policies, but when we say that we intervene, I would just like to reiterate what I have spelt out clearly in my response just now. Any intervention cannot be a one-size-fits-all. Any punishment or rehabilitation must take into account the circumstances and also the background of both the victim and perpetrator.

So, these are complex issues, as Mr Liang Eng Hwa says, and it is important for us not to oversimplify these issues. Very often, the rehabilitation for both the victim and perpetrators is not a short journey and we need to put in the necessary efforts with the parents and the community partners in order to do this well.

Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister for his reply. I have two supplementary questions. While the criteria for bullying classification seem clear, are there concerns about under-reporting of bullying cases? Secondly, will there be more channels for the reporting of bullying in schools for students, parents and teachers to report such cases?

Mr Speaker, Sir, we are similarly concerned about the reporting, not just of under-reporting. There can also be over-reporting of a different kind. Because, as mentioned, this issue is a complex one. What people constitute as "bullying" also varies in interpretation across different people. So, we should be careful.

There will be instances whereby some people may have encountered some bullying or unfortunate instances and where they think that they are able to manage it and they did not escalate the issue to the adults or teachers. There will also be cases where people have experienced uncomfortable situations which may not exactly constitute "bullying", but they will also raise this to the adults or parents and we will take actions as necessary.

So, it is not just about having more channels. The channels are there for us to use. But regardless of the channels, we want to give people and students the confidence that if you are in doubt, where you feel troubled, you should be able to use the existing channels to report it to the adults and then have the adults work with the students to see how they can mend the relationships and move the relationships forward.

Mr Speaker, just two quick supplementary questions for the Minister. Indeed, as many other Members have shared, I am concerned that the number of reported cases, though steady over the past few years, may not be indicative of the underlying concerns that many parents have.

So, two points, if the Minister can help us to understand. These are not just about having more channels. But how has MOE enhanced the detection and reporting of bullying cases over the years? Secondly, in terms of the policy and approach, how has the approach by teachers and schools in addressing bullying changed over the years?

Mr Speaker, Sir, as I have mentioned, the issues have become more complex over time for various reasons. One, students today are exposed to much more diverse influences beyond schools, beyond the community and even beyond the families, and largely through the Internet. So, the sources of information and the kind of exposures that they are being exposed to have become much more complex.

Second, on the positive side, we have also stepped up efforts to sensitise our students to what constitutes bullying and that can also help us to have better detection. And students today are much more confident, willing and able to come forward and tell us what they have experienced.

On the other hand, we also have students who are becoming much more sensitive, not just sensitised, to some of these issues and what they perceive as bullying may or may not correspond to what other people may perceive as bullying. But regardless of the complexities, we encourage all students to report instances when they feel they have not been treated with respect or they have felt unsafe, to let the school leaders know. We will work with the parents and the community to try and rehabilitate the perpetrators and also to take care of the physical and emotional needs of our children.

So, how has this changed over the years? Well, besides those points that I mentioned, today, when such instances happen in schools, very often we have to not just manage the issues between the students; sometimes, we also have to manage the issues amongst the parents and their great expectations on all parties of what the other side should do.

Mr Speaker, I refer to parts (b) and (c) of my original PQ. I do not think I heard the Minister answering them. The first being for a breakdown between the offline and online bullying incidents that are reported to schools. And part (c), relating to whether there are any special guidelines, given our approaches taken for cases of bullying involving students with neurodiverse conditions or disabilities, and if there are such guidelines, what are they?

And it is important, especially for this last point, because different measured strategies need to be behind how these students are handled, because they need to be sensitive or also effective, and not all teachers or counsellors might feel that they are able to handle some of the more complex issues.

Mr Speaker, the numbers for the breakdown of the offline and online bullying incidents have been answered in my response. The number of reported online cases is generally much lower than the offline ones. But as Members have noted, this could also be because people are less sensitised to what constitutes online bullying. So, for example, if a child views that he or she has been excluded from a group repeatedly, persistently, does that constitute a form of psychological bullying? It has to be taken in context and then we have to look at the case carefully.

So, my own belief is that the online numbers will progressively rise because of the circumstances that our children are exposed to, but also because as people become more aware of what is happening, there will be more of such reported instances.

On the second point about neurodiversity, that is why we handle all cases sensitively. It is not a one-size-fits-all method to handle things. Some children with special needs may have, advertently or inadvertently, caused harm to others and they may not know and, when we counsel them, we have to handle them with care because of their different needs.

On the other hand, when students with special needs are bullied or made to feel uncomfortable, we will also have to make special efforts to counsel the perpetrators. The guidelines as to what constitutes bullying is the same. But the remediation measures will have to be taken in context, taking into account the conditions and circumstances of both the victims and the perpetrators.

The Minister mentioned just now that the trend of bullying in the past five years has remained steady. As trends for social behaviours may take some time, this five-year timeframe may not be sufficient. Does the Minister have figures over a longer timeframe like, for example, 20 years?

Secondly, have there been studies into why children or young people engage in bullying behaviour, with a view to identifying whether there are any ways of pre-empting such behaviour?

Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not have the last 20 years of data. I have already explained that in the last few years, the data has been relatively stable. The only thing that we have changed in the classification is that, previously, we did not account for instances that happened outside of school, but more recently, we have also put that into our data. That is about the only change that we have done recently.

On the second issue that Ms Hazel Poa mentioned, this is exactly the point, because it is not about focusing on just the bullying, but the potential causes of why people engage in such behaviours, whether is it children or adults or teenagers, and there are many reasons for this. I think the literature has various hypotheses on this. But for more recent events, one of the things that we watch closely is the impact of the COVID-19 safe distancing measures and the reduction in opportunities for our children to grow up interacting with people, as they would have done previously, and whether this would have an impact on the kind of social or anti-social behaviours that they have.

The second thing that we are watching very closely is what is happening on the Internet. Sometimes, even though the numbers are the same, the virality of some of these instances will then spawn copycats or attempts to "out-viral" the last known instance. That is why when we respond to such instances, we have to be very careful to not aggravate the situation.

Mr Speaker, as mentioned by the Minister just now about the virality of such videos, we have seen in the recent bullying case, the videos have made their rounds and continue to be made available. These videos may cause further embarrassment to the victims of the bullying.

In fact, in the past one week, another video of students engaging in public displays of affection has come up. So, is there any possibility that the Ministry can work together with the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) to get social media platforms to remove such videos, so that we remove the embarrassment for these students?

Mr Speaker, Sir, indeed, that is what we are discussing with MDDI and some of the platform companies. We are particularly concerned when videos of such instances go around because, as I have mentioned, they can have consequences. One, it can lead to more copycat attempts. Second, it can lead to people trying to "out-viral" the last known video. But third, we have to have a care when we viral such things. Because we need to give the perpetrators a chance to rehabilitate. I have received many letters, emails from concerned parents.

Sometimes, the things that they suggest we do, we need to have a care. For example, trying to doxx the perpetrators. It will leave a digital footprint for a very long time. And I am not sure it will help us in our rehabilitation efforts. Imagine a young child doing something wrong and it is on record forever. That child could be our child. This is not to make an excuse for the people who have done wrong, the perpetrators. For the people who have done wrong, we try to rehabilitate them, just as we punish them for doing wrong. That is why, in the last sentence in my reply, "True justice must blend punishment with rehabilitation."

And the last thing I hope we do not get into is where adults jump in and complicate the situation. Sometimes, these are most unhelpful in helping us to manage the situation on hand when we rehabilitate the perpetrator and help the victim to heal. So, I would like to just make an appeal for all of us to be careful. Then there are also letters and suggestions that we throw the children out of school. Again, I am not very sure that helps the children in the long term.

I have also parents who have written to me to say, "Can you please do not suspend my child from going to school because when they are not in school, they are in a much more difficult environment where they do not have anybody to guide them even".

So, I think we need to help the victim to heal. We also need to rehabilitate the perpetrators to the extent that we can. But, of course, at the end of the day, nobody is above the law, and, in the extreme cases, the full force of the law will be applied to the perpetrators.

Sir, I wish to follow up on the position of MOE on parental involvement in mitigating bullying. To be clear, I understand that parents cannot be held completely liable for the actions of their children, which is a step that some jurisdictions like France or Germany actually have in place. That said, I am concerned when there is limited or no parental involvement at all. I have Sengkang parents who have explained that even after they have reached out to the school and to the discipline master, the actions have been somewhat inadequate in their view because of insufficient involvement on the family side of the perpetrator, to be clear.

I understand that in the UK, parents may face orders to attend counselling or even face fines. While MOE may not wish to go as far, I wonder if there are merits to having this sort of joint counselling sessions, keeping in mind as the Minister said, that we do want to be very sensitive to adult involvement, but here, I feel it is about building a relationship between the parent of the perpetrator and the child.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member Jamus Lim might have missed some parts of what I have mentioned. Indeed, we get the parents of the perpetrators involved because we believe that this is part of the rehabilitation process. The rehabilitation process cannot be done independent of the parents because the parents are part of the partnership for us to bring up the children.

We do not have a position, as the Member has mentioned, like in some other jurisdictions, where they take the parents to task through fines or other punitive measures. But we certainly involve the parents. And if you have cases where you think the parents of the perpetrator would like to get involved more, but is not adequately provided for, let us know and we will follow up on this. Most of the time, it is the other way around, where we would like to engage the perpetrators' parents to get their support and cooperation, but sometimes this may not be forthcoming.

On the other hand, the Member has touched on the other point about expectations. Sometimes, we have difficult cases when parents take things into their own hands and this is certainly most unhelpful because that will be a negative role modelling of what we want for our children.

Mr Speaker, I have been told and shown by parents and students in my constituency's social media pages on popular platforms and closed group chats where students doxx younger students and sometimes even their parents from the same school. There appears to be a movement, as there are repeat instances of such pages. Usually, it is "xxx", the school name, confidential. What is MOE doing to equip schools on dealing with such pages and what measures can students and parents take with the school, MDDI and the Singapore Police Force to take down these chats and pages? Can the community work with MOE on rehabilitation, like what the Minister had spoken about?

Mr Speaker, Sir, I fully agree with the Member Ms Yeo Wan Ling's point about both the dangers and difficulties of doxxing others. It could be younger students; it could be older students. It does not matter; it is still doxxing. Because this will complicate the relationship. Doxxing, itself, in certain contexts, will constitute bullying as well. So, sometimes, when people exercise what I call "social vigilantism", it can backfire and complicate many of the efforts to help the victim and to rehabilitate the perpetrators.

We will continue to explore with the platform companies to see what can be done. I am not confident that this is top of mind for them, but we will certainly try to get their help, especially when the physical and psychological well-being of our children are at stake. And I hope the platform companies will work with us, MDDI and the Police to manage some of these issues.

I would like to thank all Members for your concern and I would like to reiterate that, in order for us to manage these issues, all of us have a part to play to guide our children, help the victim heal, but also to rehabilitate the perpetrators so that the actions are not repeated.