Something seriously needs to be done about bullying in schools.
According to The Star, yet another brutal bullying case has emerged in Kedah, where a 16-year-old secondary school student was allegedly beaten up by 20 of his schoolmates with a PVC pipe last Monday (7th August).
The boy was admitted to a private hospital in Butterworth. He sustained a swollen abdomen and face, broken fingers, and even a misaligned spinal cord from the beating.
He was allegedly cornered by his schoolmates in the bathroom and canteen of his school where he was subsequently assaulted.
The boy’s father expressed how shocked he was that not one person came to his son’s help when he was being beaten up by the boys.
“I took him to lodge a police report when he came home with bruises on his body and face. He did not say much about the beatings, so we thought it was not that serious at that time,” the boy’s father told the daily.
He went on to say that he only took his son to the hospital on Friday (11th August) when he noticed that his abdomen and face appeared swollen.
After a check-up at the hospital, doctors found that two of the boy’s fingers were broken from the assault.
“His spinal cord also became misaligned due to the beatings. He now finds it hard to walk or carry out any physical activities, and he has been on medical leave since the incident,” said the boy’s father.
Sadly, this was not the first time something like this has happened to the 16-year-old. His father said that he had informed the school about his son being bullied prior but they did nothing in response.
“I raised the matter with the school a number of times before but nothing was done,” the boy’s father added.
The case is currently being investigated by the authorities and six students in connection with the incident were questioned by police, according to Kulim OCPD Supt Nasir Jaafar. Currently, three of the six students have been suspended by the school.
The recent influx of brutal bullying cases in Malaysian schools and universities is very unsettling. We need to do better to teach Malaysians from an early age that such behaviour is never acceptable so that we can move forward as a society.
As for the student, we hope he makes a full recovery and that his schoolmates are appropriately punished.
Also read: Malaysian Boy Gets Brutally Beaten Up For Refusing to Join ‘Gang 550’