SHAH ALAM: Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek has warned teachers and school staff against sexual harassment, saying those who do will be sacked.
"You touch, you go!," she said, referring to cases of sexual harassment in schools.
"We have to deliver this warning so people understand that we are serious about ensuring it (sexual harassment) does not happen in our schools," she said in a speech at the Convention on the Protection of Students from Sexual Exploitation.
Fadhlina said her ministry is committed in ensuring schools are safe for all students.
She said she was concerned about the rising trend of sexual harassment against children, both boys and girls.
Fadhlina said during her days as an activist, she was alerted to an incident of sexual harassment involving 20 boys in a school in Sarawak.
"When I asked why they (the students) didn't report the harassment, they said the religious teacher told them that if they told others, their knowledge wouldn't be blessed.
"They were told to protect the honour of their teachers," she said.
She said the ministry has launched a "Safe School Programme" to create a learning environment free from sexual harassment including through guidelines and more resources in the form of counsellors.
Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, who was also in attendance, said her ministry was working with the Education Ministry to raise awareness on the law and sexual exploitation of children.
Azalina said laws alone were not enough to combat the exploitation of children and that underreporting was a real problem.
This is why all parties must do their part to protect children, she said.
Also in attendance at today's event were Prime Minister's wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.