Early intervention at schools needed to prevent violence among students, says Lee

Alliance for a Safe Community chairman Lee Lam Thye has urged schools to enhance their early detection of violence among students. Schools must improve non-violent communication and conflict resolution programs, and equip staff with tools to identify aggressive behavior before it escalates to fatal incidents, according to Lee. The safety advocate expressed concern that recent violent incidents involving students and youths were desensitizing society to violence, and normalizing the use of physical force as an acceptable means to resolve disputes.

In his statement, Lee emphasized the need for educators and school personnel to detect early warning signs, such as serious bullying, explicit threats, and escalating aggression. He stressed that parents must set better examples of self-control, respect, and peaceful conflict resolution at home, as children learn behaviors from their surroundings.

Lee warned that if such violent incidents persist, society could gradually become desensitized to violence and begin viewing aggressive behavior and physical force as acceptable conflict-resolution methods. He stressed that while offenders must face legal consequences, a broader preventive effort involving all levels of society was necessary to address the root cause of violence.

Lee highlighted social media as a contributing factor to youth aggression, warning that exposure to cyberbullying, online humiliation, and violent content could normalize violence in the real world. His call for urgent intervention came after a series of violent incidents involving students at educational institutions over the past year, including the death of a schoolgirl in Yong Peng, the murder of a polytechnic student, and the stabbing of a female student at a school in Bandar Utama.