THE Penang Education Department recorded 1,302 bullying and social misconduct cases in schools from 2023 to September this year, of which 86 bullying cases were reported to the police.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mohamad Abdul Hamid said the remaining cases were handled by state education authorities.
“Only cases that warrant police intervention are referred to law enforcement, while those that do not require criminal investigation are handled in school,” he said in a written reply to two assemblymen at the Penang State Assembly.
He added that joint intervention and awareness programmes by the police and the state Education Department, along with ongoing engagement with stakeholders, had shown a positive impact.
Based on statistics from the Penang Education Department, there were 289 cases in 2023, 700 in 2024, and 313 reported up to last September.
The highest number of police cases was recorded in the Northeast District with 30 incidents, followed by North Seberang Perai (18), South Seberang Perai (20), Southwest District (10) and Central Seberang Perai (eight).
The statistics were in the written answers provided to Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican (BN-Bertam) and K. Kumaran (PH-Bagan Dalam), who had asked about the measures taken to tackle bullying, the total number of cases reported over the past three years and the extent of collaboration with authorities for prevention.
Responding on behalf of Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, Mohamad said the state education department viewed bullying and social misconduct seriously.
He said it had implemented integrated strategies in line with an Education Ministry circular in 2023.
“Various preventive programmes and value-education initiatives are in place.
“There is collaboration between the police, Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation, Penang Women’s Development Corporation, NGOs and schools.”
Mohamad said among the key measures taken were several awareness campaigns involving 396 schools in Penang, townhall discussions and the monitoring of boarding schools.
He said early intervention measures such as counselling, peer mentoring, social-emotional training, community service for offenders, and parental involvement were also conducted.
He highlighted the use of digital monitoring systems to track student behaviour, identification of at-risk students and interventions.
