By Sin Chew Daily
Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid has instructed all schools in the country to set up complaint boxes to allow students to provide information to stamp out inappropriate behaviour in schools, especially information about criminal activities.
This measure has generally won the support of educational bodies, who are of the opinion that it will provide an additional channel to manage students’ disciplinary issues.
Preserving discipline has become a major challenge in the education sector. Owing to changes in socioeconomic structure over the years, students’ disciplinary issues are becoming increasingly complicated and tough. Among the most common problems are truancy, bullying and even criminal and drug-related activities.
Undeniably, student discipline has improved gradually in recent years, but there is still a handful of black sheep involved in serious crimes. According to police information, drug dealers can entice a secondary school student to help deliver drugs with something as simple as an ice-cream.
Statistics show that in Kedah alone, there were 113 drug cases involving secondary school students last year, and there are already eight cases so far this year.
Overall, students disciplinary issues are still under control. However, the authorities should adopt a more proactive stance to improve the situation and prevent unhealthy practices from spreading in our schools, thus affecting more students.
Setting up complaint boxes is a new initiative aimed at rectifying disciplinary problems in schools. If any student is aware of any inappropriate behaviour or he/she is being bullied by other students in the school, this complaint box can serve as a useful channel to report the incident to the school authorities.
Theoretically, if the students make good use of this complaint box and the authorities handle the complaints appropriately, this measure should indeed help resolve students’ disciplinary issues.
Nevertheless, while implementing this measure, it is imperative that the school authorities strictly adhere to the principle of confidentiality. The complainant’s identity must be fully protected throughout the process to keep them away from possible retaliation and harm.
Thus, the effectiveness of complaint boxes will be remarkably compromised if the authorities fail to win the complete trust of students.
All being said, there is a downside to allowing students to become informants as this may have a negative bearing on their character-building and morality. It is also arguable whether the students should be exposed to the risks of being informants.
Moreover, the complaint box may erode the trust already established among individuals.
Both the education ministry and school authorities must study and deliberate the above in detail and take the corresponding steps to ensure the effectiveness of the complaint box without exposing the students to unnecessary risks.
Sin Chew Daily is a local vernacular publication
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