KUALA LUMPUR: A national academic forum bringing together educators, counsellors, NGO practitioners, parents and members of the public to examine the increasingly complex psychological and emotional challenges that Malaysian students face will be held on Nov 22.
Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) will host the forum, titled "Mental Health and Emotional Resilience in Schools," from 10am to 12.30pm on Nov 22 at the Auditorium in Bangunan Tun Tan Siew Sin at its Kuala Lumpur campus.
The forum is part of TAR UMT's ongoing efforts to advance evidence-based reforms under its Safe School 2.0 initiative, aimed at promoting safer and more emotionally supportive school environments.
It seeks to provide a platform for academic discussion, knowledge exchange and policy input at a time when cases of school bullying, cyber harassment, deepfakes and student vulnerability continue to rise.
While the discussion will be conducted primarily in English, provisions will be made for Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese to ensure broader participation.
Six expert panellists will speak on issues spanning educational psychology, youth mental health, clinical intervention, counselling education, school leadership and community-based crisis support.
The panellists are TAR UMT's Prof Dr Ananda Kumar Palaniappan and senior lecturer Chuah Hooi Mei; YoungMinds Malaysia president Nazrul Azizi; Pejabat Kesihatan Titiwangsa psychologist Imatul Nor Hazizan; SMJK Chong Hwa Kuala Lumpur principal Tan Siew Choo; and Life Line Association Malaysia vice-president Wong Su Zane.
Safe School 2.0 lead researcher and TAR UMT associate professor Datuk Dr Monna Ong Siew Siew said Malaysia is confronting a systemic crisis affecting students' psychological well-being nationwide.
"This is not about isolated incidents but a crisis across our school ecosystem. Safe School 2.0 is not about tightening discipline; it is about strengthening humanity, empathy and scientific prevention.
"Every child deserves not only physical protection, but emotional safety and dignity," she said.
The forum will explore related policy issues, including strengthening school counselling systems, building teacher capacity, enhancing digital safety in the face of emerging risks such as deepfake abuse, and improving governance and community partnerships to support psychological safety.
It will also serve as a platform for stakeholders to contribute views ahead of TAR UMT's final submission of the Safe School 2.0 proposal to the Education Ministry.
The framework is being developed through a multi-institutional collaboration involving researchers from TAR UMT, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and several private and Islamic universities.
The proposal aims to integrate psychological education, mental health support, restorative practices, early-risk detection and data-driven monitoring into the school system, in line with Unesco and OECD standards on whole-school mental health governance.
TAR UMT is calling on educators, school leaders, counsellors, youth organisations, parents and all who are committed to student welfare to participate. Admission is free, and registration can be made via the event poster's QR code, the link at https://forms.gle/MXSV2mKPLqWQrQhu9, or by contacting Joanne Tan at 012-901 5381 or Fong Yi at 019-275 9871.
