Learn about key changes from the Malaysian government to improve physical and psychological safety in its 10,243 schools.
Malaysia’s Education Minister, Fadhlina Sidek, has announced five reforms for improved school safety focusing on both physical and psychological safety of students and educators.
These reforms include:
- Stricter enforcement of bans on dangerous/prohibited items – as part of this enhancement, schools will be required to complete more frequent ‘spot checks’ for prohibited/dangerous items to ensure these aren’t on being brought into school.
- Strengthened mental health support – including doubling the frequency of mental health screenings for students (to twice a year); prioritising guidance and counselling for students and teachers; and ‘immediate mental health strengthening programmes that will involve the Health Ministry and strategic partners in the mental health field’.
- Implementing a reproductive and social health programme – this will help raise awareness of and address issues concerning sexual violence against children, and provide targeted interventions for students (as appropriate) that are guided by religious, moral and cultural values.
- School physical safety audits – These reviews are ongoing, with 735 schools checked so far. The government is also specifically reviewing school procedures for bullying and sexual misconduct cases. As part of this, they are looking to improve bullying complaint systems, CCTV; and want to have increased engagement sessions with students, parents and teachers before child protection policies are implemented in school.
- Character education – This new subject will be included in the 2027 school curriculum to ‘better instil moral values and righteous thinking among students’. It will however, be included in preschool education from next year, as part of the 2026 preschool curriculum. 1
Reference
- Malaysian government to make five key changes to keep students safe, says Education Minister (Accessed: 20th October 2025)
