SHAH ALAM: The Education Ministry has taken various measures to tackle problems plaguing the 402 schools identified as hotspots for disciplinary and drug problems.
The Ministry said today that among others, it has offered legal literacy course to principals at the said schools and those under the Visionary Teen Programme (Program Remaja Berwawasan), a National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) between the Malaysian Armed Forces and police.
“The Armed forces and police have joined hands under the NBOS to mobilise their expertise to discipline students.
“Students attend weekly training session at schools and Summer Camp programme will be held at the Armed forces camps or police training centres.
“Police also play a role as School Liaison Officers tasked to assist them in addressing disciplinary issues.
“Bukit Aman Crime Prevention and Community Safety Department has distributed names of the schools involved to the relevant police headquarters for monitoring purposes,” the ministry’s School Management Division stated.
The Ministry hopes the efforts taken will be welcomed by the schools involved.
The New Straits Times had on Friday revealed list of schools that were identified as hotspots for disciplinary and drugs problems by sources.
Selangor topped with 76 schools on the list, which divided the schools into two categories, namely discipline (Category 1), and discipline with drug issues (Category 3).
The second highest was Johor with 63 (including one on Category 3), followed by Negri Sembilan (40, with five on Category 3), while Penang and Pahang shared the fourth spot with 37 schools each.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan yesterday explained that the 402 schools did not necessarily have hard core disciplinary issues such as drugs or bullying. Other issues such as tardiness were also taken into consideration.