PETALING JAYA: The 10 students who had allegedly bullied a student will be expelled from school, says Datuk Azhar Abdul Manaf.
The Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) director-general said the college disciplinary committee (JDM) had made the decision to expel the 10 students from Sultan Azlan Shah Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) in Kuala Kangsar who had been identified as involved in a recent case of bullying.
"A JDM meeting was conducted to study the case carefully and had made the decision to expel the students involved effective Tuesday (Dec 14).
"Mara takes the incident of bullying that happened last week seriously and the punishment showed that we are firm and do not compromise on bullying among students under any Mara Educational Institution, IPMA or Mara sponsorship," he said this in a statement on Tuesday (Dec 14).
According to Azhar, the parents of the students involved in bullying had been informed of the decision made by the committee.
He said the decision to expel them was made based on the guidelines stated in the MRSM student discipline management guide.
"We hope this decision will not only be a lesson to the students involved, but also to other students so that there will be no more misconduct in any educational institution under Mara.
"We, at Mara, of course want to produce human capital that is not only excellent in terms of knowledge but also has a good personality and personal behaviour and is accepted by the community," he said.
Azhar stressed that Mara had always been committed to dealing with bullying cases by tightening standard operating procedures through the enforcement of school rules.
"We will be implementing continuous monitoring of all student activities including the learning process in the classroom to prevent such incidents from recurring," he said.
The incident, which was captured on video, went viral on social media platforms recently, sparking national fury.
Police have so far hauled up 12 Form One students to assist in investigations.