Our Schools Should Be Places of Safety, Not Fear
By Nicson Yap Yong Ze
There is something deeply unsettling about hearing that a student has died inside a school. For most of us, school is where we spend a large part of our childhood. We worry about examinations, rush between classes and co-curricular activities, complain about homework and make plans for our future. We rarely question whether we will be safe there. Yet recent events have made that question increasingly difficult to ignore. On Oct 3, 16-year-old Irene Sofiya Mohd Khairool Faisal was found unconscious and seriously injured in a school hall in Yong Peng, Johor, after attending extra classes. Police are investigating her death as murder and have urged the public not to speculate while investigations continue. Source: Bernama, “Police investigate death of student in Yong Peng school as murder.” Bernama source
Irene's death came only days after another serious case involving a student. Fourteen-year-old Muhammad Idlan Fareeq Shahril was found unconscious at a school hostel in Kuala Pilah on Sept 25 and later died. Two 16-year-old students were charged with murder on Oct 8. The case remains before the courts. The fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Yap Shing Xuen at a school in Bandar Utama last year has also returned to public attention, with her family pursuing civil action while criminal proceedings continue. These cases are different, and it would be wrong to suggest that they all resulted from the same problem. But they should encourage us to look beyond individual incidents and ask whether our school-safety systems are good enough at identifying risks before they become tragedies. Sources: New Straits Times, “Two 16-year-olds charged with murder of junior at Kuala Pilah hostel”; Malay Mail, “Bandar Utama school stabbing: Family plans civil suit.” New Straits Times source
The numbers give us another reason to pay attention. According to Education Ministry data, reported bullying cases increased from 3,883 in 2022 to 6,528 in 2023 and 7,681 in 2024. The ministry has noted that improved awareness and reporting may partly explain the increase. In the first eight months of 2026, another 5,681 bullying cases were reported nationwide, covering physical, verbal, non-verbal and cyberbullying. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has also acknowledged that the actual number could be higher because some cases may go unreported. Sources: Bernama, Education Ministry data on bullying cases; Bernama, “Over 5,000 bullying cases reported in schools in Jan-Aug 2026.” Bernama — bullying statistics
The latest international data provides another perspective. In the OECD's PISA 2025 results, 27% of Malaysian students reported experiencing at least one form of bullying several times a month or more, compared with 20% across OECD countries. The figure should not be interpreted as proof that Malaysian schools are uniformly unsafe, but it does show that a significant proportion of students experience bullying regularly. Source: OECD, PISA 2025 Results — Malaysia. OECD — PISA 2025 Malaysia
There is already no shortage of proposed measures. Malaysia has expanded counselling and hostel supervision, introduced safety audits, strengthened reporting mechanisms, expanded CCTV coverage and introduced the Anti-Bullying Act. Parliament's special select committee has also recommended measures including confidential reporting, protection for complainants, student participation in anti-bullying policies and child-protection policies in schools. These are important steps. But perhaps the next stage of the conversation should be less about asking what new policy we can announce and more about asking whether the measures already available are working on the ground. Source: Parliament of Malaysia, Special Select Committee report on bullying among school students. Parliament of Malaysia — school bullying report
One idea I believe deserves more attention is near-miss reporting. In aviation and other safety-critical industries, we do not wait for an accident before learning from a dangerous situation. Schools could adopt a similar mindset. A serious fight that was stopped before someone was injured, a threat that was reported before it escalated, a student who could not be located for an extended period or an unsafe area that repeatedly causes concern may not become a headline, but each is a warning. These incidents could be recorded anonymously and reviewed periodically to identify patterns. A school should not only count how many serious incidents have occurred; it should also ask how many warning signs appeared beforehand.
We should also measure how quickly a school responds, not merely whether a complaint was eventually resolved. If a student reports bullying at 9am, when was the report acknowledged? When was the student spoken to? When were parents contacted, if necessary? Was the student checked on again a week later? These simple indicators could give schools a much clearer picture of whether their systems are functioning. A complaint marked "resolved" does not necessarily mean a student feels safe again. Schools could also conduct a short, anonymised review after every serious incident, not to assign blame but to ask what warning signs were missed, whether existing procedures worked and what should change. Most importantly, the lessons should be shared so that one school's experience can help another school avoid the same mistake.
Students should have a role in this process too, but not as security guards or disciplinarians. We are often the first people to notice changes in our own environment. We know which areas are usually empty, where conflicts tend to occur and whether students genuinely trust the adults around them. That knowledge should be treated as useful information. A student who raises a concern should not have to prove that something terrible has already happened before being taken seriously. Sometimes prevention begins with listening to a concern that seems small.
As students, we do not expect schools to be completely free of conflict or risk. That would be unrealistic. What we should expect is a system that learns. A school should notice repeated warning signs, respond quickly when students speak up and examine what went wrong after a serious incident. Irene Sofiya's death and the other recent cases should not become opportunities for speculation while investigations and court proceedings continue. But respecting due process does not mean waiting before thinking about prevention. We can allow the authorities to establish the facts while asking what can be improved now.
A school should be a place where students think about their next examination, their university applications, their friends and their future. We should not have to wonder whether we are safe in the place where we are supposed to learn. A school should not merely prepare students for the future. It should protect their chance to have one.
Nicson Yap Yong Ze (nicsonyap3101@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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