KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Education Minister Datuk Mohd Radzi Md Jidin today said that there are several initiatives already ongoing to tackle the bullying issues faced in Malaysian schools.

Speaking to reporters at the Education Transformation Showcase in Alamanda Shopping Centre, Putrajaya, he said that among the initiatives is the establishment of a taskforce to look into the prevalence of bullying in schools.

"With regards to bullying in schools, firstly we have established a taskforce chaired by former education director general Dr Habibah (Abdul Rahim), to see what we need to look into what we can do within the regulations we have to curb bullying in schools.

"So that is what the taskforce is looking into now," he said.

He said that the Education Ministry also has plans with the Ministry of Home Affairs to launch a programme called "Sekolahku Sejahtera Sepakat Selamat".

"We would be working closely with the police to ensure that the conditions in schools are safe and our children feel that schools are a safe place.

"With this, we hope that cases of bullying in schools would reduce drastically," he told reporters.

He also said that the ministry would be launching an anonymous portal to report cases of bullying in schools next week.

"This portal will allow users to report cases of bullying either via email, the existing reporting system in the portal, or through a hotline.

"So if you are involved or in the know of any bullying cases and want to report it anonymously, there is now a platform for you to do so. Hopefully, with this, students won't be too scared of repercussions from reporting bullying cases," he said.

Radzi was responding to a query from the press over students who were alleged to have bullied and tormented a classmate at Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) in Kuantan.

He said that the case did not fall under his jurisdiction and that the relevant authorities will investigate the matter.