{
  "id": 14574554,
  "title": "Special budget needed to appoint hostel wardens to curb bullying in boarding schools",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/15/special-budget-needed-to-appoint-hostel-wardens-to-curb-bullying-in",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-15T00:39:43.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2026/10/1555811/special-budget-needed-appoint-hostel-wardens-curb-bullying-boarding"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Mara chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki has called for special budget allocations to fund full-time wardens at boarding schools in Malaysia to combat bullying. The education minister must provide dedicated funds to ensure students are monitored around the clock, especially at night when most hostel bullying cases occur, Asyraf stated. Teachers cannot supervise students 24/7 as they have already completed their workday by midnight, making it impossible for them to monitor students until early morning, Asyraf noted. Relying on teachers to fill this role is no longer feasible given their existing workload. Mara has already implemented the approach of appointing former military personnel as full-time wardens at its Junior Science Colleges, which saw positive outcomes with no bullying cases reported during the pilot project. The Education Ministry should consider this model and conduct a study to assess its effectiveness for residential schools under its jurisdiction, Asyraf added.",
  "summary": "KUALA LUMPUR: Special allocations should be provided for boarding schools to fund full-time wardens as part of efforts to strengthen student safety and curb bullying, said Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki. He said a dedicated budget from the Education Ministry to appoint full-time wardens was important to ensure students could be monitored around the clock,…",
  "key_points": [
    "Special budget needed for full-time hostel wardens in Malaysia.",
    "Education minister must allocate dedicated funds for 24/7 monitoring.",
    "Former military personnel model showed success in reducing bullying."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}