Parents, teachers back tougher stance on school bullying, but doubts remain over impact
Clearer guidelines and stricter consequences drew broad support, but questions persist over whether schools can carry them out effectively.
File photo of primary school students in a classroom at Oasis Primary School on Jul 8, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
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SINGAPORE: Parents, teachers and experts broadly welcomed the measures announced on Wednesday (Apr 15) to tackle school bullying, but many were not convinced the recommendations would move the needle.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced nine recommendations following a comprehensive review of bullying that began in 2025, along with clearer disciplinary guidelines for misconduct cases – including bullying – similar to those introduced for vaping offences.
All the parents CNA spoke to supported MOE's decision to come down harder on hurtful behaviour in schools.
Ms Lyna Hanis, who has two sons aged seven and four, said the move to make reporting such behaviour easier stood out to her.
Noting that several bullying cases have made the news in recent years, the 37-year-old added that she had always worried that children would not know what to do if they were bullied.
Before her son entered Primary 1 this year, she spoke to him about what bullying might look like – getting shouted at, being asked for money – and how he should not react in kind.
“That’s why I thought the whole reporting thing made sense. I don’t know whether kids would just keep quiet or react the same way, so they need to know that there are avenues for them to tell the teacher what happened.”
A parent who only wanted to be known as Ms CH, whose two daughters aged seven and 11 attend the same school, said both have encountered bullying.
She was among parents who wrote to MOE last year with feedback on how her daughter's bully was handled by the school. The bully had threatened that their wealthy parents would come after her family.
She asked to remain anonymous, fearing retaliation from the other student’s family or her daughters’ school.
“I’m just really happy that within six months, something came out … I’m just happy to see that something is being done, and we need to get it done as soon as possible,” she said.
Ms Syed Hairun, who has three daughters aged 13, 11 and 8, said the new measures show that bullying is being taken seriously.
“I would say the combination of stricter consequences along with support systems is pretty important to combat bullying,” she said, adding her daughters have experienced some bullying.
Her oldest daughter did not tell her at the time, fearing she would speak to the teacher, and only told her about it after entering secondary school. When Ms Hairun checked with teachers about her younger daughters' experiences, she was sometimes told she did not have the full picture.
“I choose to trust the teacher, partly because I don’t know what happened in school. And I believe the teacher’s judgment about how she handled the case, they’re trained to do so,” she said.
She checks in more often with her daughters on whether the other student's behaviour has changed, given what is at stake for their safety and mental health.
“I don't think the punishments alone will solve the issue, because bullying often comes from deeper emotional or social influences,” she added.
“And in many cases, I believe that the parents play a very important role. Many children pick up behaviours from social circles, from relatives or their playground settings, social media or even attitudes at home.”
STANDARDISED GUIDELINES
One teacher said that while many schools had already been doing what the MOE measures touch on, making it a system-wide change would have the greatest impact.
Teachers interviewed for this story did not want to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
“Now, parents cannot argue: ‘Are you sure this follows protocol?’” said Oliver, who teaches English and mathematics at a primary school, adding the same applied to other types of misconduct.
“It’s great that there are now guidelines for us that the ministry has made very clear to everyone … that this is our stand on serious misconduct and these are the consequences.”
With a common framework, parents can no longer argue that certain consequences are unfair, he added.
Assistant Professor Cheung Hoi Shan from the National Institute of Education said unclear guidelines had long been a pain point for teachers unsure where to draw the line.
“When the definitions are not clear, then nobody knows how to act … The risk is that I may be overreacting. Is it too much to label a child as somebody who has caused harm when I don’t even know where to draw the line?”
The new framework explicitly highlights repetition and intention as hallmarks of bullying, giving everyone a shared understanding of the agreed process for handling such cases, she said.
“With that transparency, I think that is really the whole basis of building trust.”
HARSHER PUNISHMENTS
Psychologist Ong Mian Li said that while MOE has clearly done the work in their review, he hopes to see more focus on how to rehabilitate bullies after they are punished.
“If consequences are just stiff, we are sending a poor message,” he said, adding that the restorative and education part of handling these cases is far more important than how many strokes of the cane offenders get.
Research shows that how adults respond to hurtful behaviour in the first three days is critical, said Dr Ong, who runs Lightfull Psychology and Consulting, where he works with neurodivergent individuals.
While caning is a familiar concept to many Singaporeans, the evidence overwhelmingly shows physical punishment produces no positive outcomes.
“What physical punishment consistently predicts is more aggression, worse mental health, and in the most extreme cases, it physiologically changes the brand,” he added, calling on schools and MOE to de-emphasise caning.
“What caning does is that it reinforces fear, not reflection.”
At Oliver's school, students are not caned even in cases that would warrant it, including those where police have been involved.
Public caning is no longer practised in most schools, though recalcitrant students are sometimes made to watch peers receive it, he said.
“A lot of schools are now moving in this direction called restorative practices where we believe that consequences need to be married with a form of reflection,” he said, adding that children are also encouraged to repair relationships with those they mistreated.
Corporal punishment may carry less weight for students who are caned at home, he said. Other consequences, such as being barred from a sport or CCA they love, could feel more severe.
EMOTIONAL REGULATION
Certified youth coach Delphine Ang, who has four children aged between six and 24, agreed that punishments must be paired with restorative or rehabilitative efforts. She also works with children who have been bullied, or who are bullies themselves.
“We want to raise children where even if there’s no punishment, they don’t behave like that. Or do they behave in this controlled manner because someone is watching? If no one is watching, there’s no punishment, are they going to continue to do that?” said Ms Ang.
While MOE’s recommendations touch on reinforcing positive values and strengthening students’ character and social-emotional skills, she noted that teaching young children to regulate their emotions would nip these problems in the bud.
The school environment should also feel safe, she added.
“Even if you make a mistake, it’s not like condemnation, shaming and swooping down and … blaming,” said Ms Ang. “In that situation, children will find that this environment is not safe. So how do we actually make the environment safe so that they are open to correction?”
Asst Prof Cheung encouraged parents to be more emotionally present for their children, in line with MOE's recommendation to strengthen school-parent partnerships.
Parents should show interest in their children's social relationships – not just academic performance – and watch for signs that something is wrong, such as emotional withdrawal, reluctance to attend school, or physical symptoms.
“Parents are in the best position to do that because they could potentially spend a lot of time with the child.”
DOUBTS OVER IMPLEMENTATION
While additional funding for schools to hire more staff to manage bullying may help, teachers said it does not address all their pain points.
One of the biggest ongoing challenges is convincing parents that their child did something wrong, said Oliver.
“There is no point having all these guidelines … the school is ready to punish the kid, help the kid and whatnot, but the parents are still unwilling to accept that their kid is the aggressor, a bully or a thief,” he added.
Some parents reject the evidence even when CCTV footage and witness statements show otherwise. Even after the school acts, the impact is limited if parents at home ignore the issue entirely.
“That’s our biggest problem. Whether or not the parents actually support that their child has done the wrong thing.”
Nicholas, who teaches English in a secondary school, raised another concern: a staff member hired specifically to handle bullying cases could become known for that role, and students seen speaking to them might be labelled informants and ostracised.
Discipline committees, particularly in schools where misconduct is more common, are already stretched thin, he added. When major cases arise, all attention goes there, leaving minor incidents like verbal abuse unaddressed.
He also questioned whether MOE's bullying figures reflect reality.
“In one school, you already have 1,000 students. You’re telling me there are only eight (cases) in an entire year?” he said, adding that his school can see eight such cases a week.
Kate, who teaches Mandarin in a primary school, said the most time-consuming parts of handling bullying cases – investigations, incident reports and parent conversations – could be eased by more manpower. But many of MOE's recommendations call for strengthening processes or teaching, which risk adding to teachers' workload.
While every teacher wants to build students' social-emotional skills through character and citizenship education, outcomes vary widely from teacher to teacher, she said.
“It’s always easy to say, but hard to do. Everything is very ideal, but if it really happens in a school, it’s really case by case.”
