Sibu: DAP Sarawak State Committee member Stanley Chiew has urged the Ministry of Education (MOE) to redefine the job scope of school security guards and strengthen their training requirements to ensure schools are adequately protected.
“The MOE must mandate more frequent patrols, including random and unscheduled rounds, to ensure every corner of the school compound is adequately monitored.
“At the same time, the ministry must ensure that guards deployed by private companies are professionally trained and have undergone systematic courses, rather than merely attending symbolic or minimal training sessions to fulfill contractual requirements,” he said in a statement.
He said this following the recent spate of school violence cases across Malaysia.
He pointed out that under the present arrangement, many schools rely on outsourced security services whose guards perform routine checks at fixed intervals, leaving long gaps between patrols. This, he said, creates opportunities for incidents to occur undetected.
“Security guards are only required to conduct routine patrols every two hours at four fixed checkpoints. This system is seriously inadequate. A two-hour gap is more than enough time for unfortunate incidents to occur without being detected.
“For example, in schools within Sibu town, non-boarding schools are assigned only four guards – two for the daytime and two for the night shift. This manpower allocation is far from sufficient. For larger school compounds, this arrangement simply fails to meet the basic requirements of effective campus security management,” he added.
Chiew explained that a school with 500 students and one with 1,000 students obviously have different security needs, and a one-size-fits-all approach is simply unacceptable.
He also highlighted the need to include female security personnel in school security teams to provide more appropriate and sensitive assistance in handling incidents involving female students or teachers.
“Only through close cooperation among the MOE, schools, and parents across policy, implementation, and educational levels – a truly safe, healthy, and caring learning environment be built for students,” he said.
At the same time, Chiew also urged the MOE to strengthen its collaboration with the police, particularly by enhancing the role and responsibilities of School Liaison Police Officers (Pegawai Perhubungan Sekolah, PPS) to prevent violent incidents.
“Police must visit their assigned schools regularly to observe the environment, identify potential risks early, and take proactive measures rather than merely appearing as guests during special occasions or festive events,” he concluded.
