An advocate for crime prevention in Malaysia has urged the Ministry of Education to set up a special committee to study the level of student delinquency in the country.
Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, senior vice chairman at Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation, said the report will enable the authorities to “gauge the seriousness” of the delinquency problem and students’ involvements in drugs, crime and other social issues.
Lee said there is currently no clear data on the extent of the problem and its implications for the future. Additionally, he blames school leaders for ignoring the problem.
“In many instances, school heads and the administration would sweep problems under the carpet so as to protect the good name of their school,” Lee said. “[But] the problem of school delinquency has existed.
“Violence among young people has been happening for a long time, but it is seen to be rising now, partly due to wide media coverage.”
Lee said that there is an emerging pattern of aggressive behaviour among youths in Malaysia. Besides drug abuse, he said that problems like truancy, smoking, bullying and gangsterism must also be studied.
Lee shared that youth psychology experts revealed that children currently lack positive adult role models at home and school and tend to emulate aggressive behaviour they see in their community or on social media.
He believes a formal study by the education ministry could help identify the causes and contributing factors to the behaviour and allow the authorities to produce feasible solutions to address student delinquency, according to the New Straits Times.
The outcome of the study could also be used to propose actions to:
- safeguard the interests of students
- address the weaknesses of Malaysia’s education system
- examine the school management’s overall role
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