KOTA KINABALU: Headmasters, principals and teachers have been urged to be extra careful in the management of their schools, especially schools with multi-storey buildings.
“If necessary, safety measures such as iron grills should be installed at decks beside the walkways of the buildings, and windows should not be wide enough to fit one person,” Gerakan Youth secretary-general Dr Dominic Lau suggested yesterday.
He made the call in the wake of recent repeated occurrences of suicides and suicide attempts involving students in schools.
He said recently, a 15-year-old Indian girl attempted to kill herself from level 3 of her school. It was believed she was unable to withstand the scolding from her teacher for failing to meet expectations in her mathematics paper.
Just two months ago, in Malacca, a 17-year-old Chinese girl jumped off the building of her school for not being able to cope with the fact that a person she loved did not feel the same for her.
Parents, said Dr Dominic, normally expect their children to be safe in the school compound where they are accompanied by so many peers and under the guardian of school teachers. However, given the repetitious suicidal cases that took place in educational institutions, the safety of the school has been a matter of growing concern among parents, he said in a statement.
He said extra care and concern were needed for this group of students to prevent them from committing any self destructive behaviour.
“In order to allow counsellors to carry out their duty at their best, it is important not to overload counsellors with too much administrative jobs,” said Dr Dominic.