Opening Remarks by Minister for Education Desmond Lee at a Dialogue with Educators, Parents and Compass Members

Good evening.

1. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to join us for this dialogue.

2. When I joined MOE, colleagues briefed me on a wide range of matters. One of which is the ongoing review on bullying, and how to create a safe and caring environment for our students.

3. These past few months, I have received heartfelt messages from parents sharing their pain about how bullying has affected their children. I have also heard from schools grappling with the challenges of investigating and intervening in complex bullying cases. Some teachers I met during our engagements opened up about the weight they carry – wanting to protect and care for every student, but also having to discipline hurtful behaviours in the classroom, while engaging parents who are themselves impacted by these incidents and understandably anxious and concerned. The recent series of cases reported in the media, such as those in Sengkang Green Primary School, the viral video of a student pointing a knife at another student outside of school, and the Montfort Secondary School amongst others, have understandably heightened all our anxieties about the safety and well-being of our children in and out of school.

Zero-Tolerance Stance on Bullying

4. We will do more to guide and support our children. Our schools must continue to be a safe space for children to learn the right values, discover who they are, build friendships, and fulfil their potential.

5. Over the past months, I have sought to better understand how colleagues at MOE, as well as our schools, approach bullying cases. Let me be clear from the onset that any form of hurtful behaviour is wrong and unacceptable. We do not, and will not, condone bullying and hurtful behaviour.

6. We start early, teaching our children through Character and Citizenship Education to be kind, to have the courage to stand up for what's right, and to express disagreements with respect.

7. We work hard to build a school culture in each school where this behaviour can flourish. Our educators model these and create classrooms where children feel valued and safe. We also encourage students to look out for one another.

8. We put in place systems to try to catch problems early. Teachers are trained to recognise when students might be facing difficulties with one another. Students are taught to seek help and report incidents to a trusted adult. When issues arise, our educators step in, supported by experienced school staff and counsellors, and work with parents when needed to address concerns together.

9. But children and youth are young – they are still growing, developing a sense of what is right or wrong, and learning how to interact and work with others, and some are going through the difficult phase of adolescence. Sometimes they make wrong choices. When they do make mistakes and wrong choices,

1. The school investigates thoroughly to establish the facts.
2. Educators help the students reflect and come to realise how their actions were hurtful and what they should have done. They try to facilitate students to take actions to take responsibility, apologise and mend the friendship. Some call this restorative practice.
3. They mete out disciplinary measures as part of the learning process. These could include detention and suspension. They engage the parents, to reinforce expected conduct.
4. In more serious cases, especially if they involve physical hurt, the school may have to report the incident to the Police.

10. Children and young people have tremendous capacity to learn, grow, and become better versions of themselves. Our educators help students understand how their actions impact others. With empathy and better self-management skills, they will not make the same poor choices.

11. But this is not a simple issue. Sometimes the approach isn't so clear-cut and we have to navigate grey areas – where children's accounts may differ, where parents' accounts may differ, where different stakeholders – parents, teachers, even the public – have different perspectives on what the appropriate response ought to be.

12. As parents, we care deeply for our children. If our children are bullied, we will naturally be anxious about their well-being and safety. We will want to know whether they will be safe in school, and how we can help them process and navigate such situations. Equally, if our children are accused of bullying other children, we would expect thorough investigations, fair treatment, and guidance on how to help our children become more compassionate and to learn from their mistakes.

13. Ultimately, we all want the same outcome for our children. We want schools that are safe spaces where students develop sound values, learn and forge friendships, and for our educators to be able to steward and shape young lives, young minds, and young hearts.

Strengthening Approach to Bullying and Hurtful Behaviours

14. This work is never finished, and there will always be room to improve. Since the beginning of 2025, MOE has been conducting a comprehensive internal review to improve existing structures and processes to better address bullying and hurtful behaviour in our schools. Such reviews are done regularly, to ensure a safe, respectful and supportive school environment.

1. What we've found is that while we have the frameworks in place, we may need to pay more attention to clear and timely communication. For example, in some cases, communications to parents could have been delayed because the school needed time to establish the facts, and this could have unintentionally caused parents and children to feel anxious.
2. Our children today also navigate social situations and relationships that are getting more complex. Beyond the physical setting, many of their interactions now also happen online – on WhatsApp, social media, Discord and more – platforms that did not exist when we were children ourselves.
3. Parents are our most crucial partners in this work. They shape their children's character at home, and can monitor and manage their behaviour outside of school. There is so much more we can achieve if our parents and teachers can work together closely and build bonds of trust. We need to enhance our system, so that we continue to strengthen trust and communication between parents and schools.

15. We have identified four key areas to do deep dives into. In the next phase of our review, we will be engaging stakeholders, including parents, parent support groups, educators, professionals and the community, to develop solutions and action items in these areas:

1. First, we will continue to strengthen our school culture, environment and processes.
   1. We will enhance our school policies on bullying and hurtful behaviour, to emphasise that the school community does not tolerate such behaviours. This includes looking at our framework for discipline, rehabilitation and restorative practice.
   2. We currently have reporting channels for students who experience bullying. We will make these channels more available and accessible to students.
   3. More importantly, we will enhance peer support and cultivate a culture of respect and kindness in all our schools, where students and educators practise their values in everyday situations, lift one another up and stand up for one another.
2. Second, we will continue to give greater emphasis to values education for our students.
   1. Through CCE lessons, we will include more real-life scenarios and help our students understand the impact of their actions on others.
   2. We will engage our students by using contemporary examples to help them develop empathy and practise perspective-taking, problem-solving and conflict resolution.
3. Third, we will provide more support for and deepen our schools' and educators' capacity.
   1. We will support our schools and educators better so that they can foster positive school culture, manage hurtful behaviours and bullying, and strengthen communication with our parents.
   2. This includes professional development and exploring the use of technology to better support their work.
4. Lastly, we must enhance school-home partnerships to enable parents and our schools to work together to raise our younger generation in this new environment.
   1. We have launched our refreshed school-home partnership guidelines last year. We will continue to build trust and work with parents through mutually respectful communication, being good role models to our children, and supporting them to develop meaningful relationships and healthy habits in this digital age.
   2. Through positive adult role-modelling both at home and in classrooms, as well as closer monitoring of our children's offline and online interactions, we can provide stronger support for their character development.
   3. We will continue to partner parents to help their children navigate challenges when they have experienced hurtful behaviour or when they have caused hurt to others. We will share resources with parents on how they can have conversations with their children to reinforce positive behaviours.

16. These consultations and discussions will continue till the end of the year, and we want to hear from you. We will share our key recommendations and follow-up actions in the first half of next year.

17. Through the second phase of the review, we want to continue to strengthen mutual respect and trust between parents and educators who share the same aspiration of nurturing our children to their fullest potential. Part of this includes imbuing in our children the values and competencies that will enable them to thrive in the future as well as tackling bullying and hurtful behaviour. Good values and behaviours begin at home, and they are further shaped and reinforced in schools. This partnership between school and home is therefore vital.

18. I hope that today marks the beginning of a deeper conversation between all of us who care about our children's well-being, and I look forward to working alongside you in this important work.