KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — The Selangor state government will provide counselling aid to students of the Bandar Utama secondary school, as they have faced trauma after their 16-year-old schoolmate Yap Shing Xuen was fatally stabbed there.
Selangor State Exco for Women Development and Social Welfare, Anfaal Saari, confirmed that counselling support will be provided for students at the school, to help them deal with the trauma.
“Yes, with the state education department, we have identified that the school has responsibility to ensure post-trauma, so regarding psychosocial help, YB Jamaliah’s office will also provide assistance, counsellors and so on to help students.
“Because according to records, although the school’s total number of students is over 1,000, those who attended was 300 only. This shows how much the trauma had impacted the school’s students and parents’ worry in sending their children to the same school,” she told reporters when met at Nirvana Center Kuala Lumpur.
Anfaal, who was here to pay her last respects to Yap, was referring to Selangor state exco for public health and environment, Jamaliah Jamaluddin.
Asked whether counselling will be provided to parents in the school, she said the Selangor state government would work with the education department to identify a suitable outlet or avenue to handle this matter together.
Asked whether the elder brother of the suspect in the Bandar Utama school stabbing case would be given counselling, she said it is too early to comment and left it to the police to carry out further investigations and to give any advice to the suspect’s family.
Referring to the Selangor state executive council’s meeting today, she said the Selangor state government had agreed to ensure the safety of children in schools, with cooperation covering aspects such as education, security, mental health and children’s welfare.
“Among matters that are important is the process for us to build a safe space, for children to have a safe space to share their concerns,” said the chair of Selangor’s Standing Committee for Women and Family Empowerment, Social Welfare, and Care Economy.
She noted that children now face the dangers of social media and unlimited internet access, and that games may trigger violence and affect their mental health.
“And my biggest worry is that these children do not have a space to share what troubles them, and also the coping mechanism that they have to face,” she said.
She said this is why the Selangor state government would hold a townhall-like meeting to reassure the parents and students of the school in the Bandar Utama tragedy, and to stand in solidarity with the school’s administrators.
She said Jamaliah’s office and the Selangor menteri besar’s office are expected to provide further details of this meeting.
“To me, the most important thing is how we face this together and that we prevent this tragic incident from happening again,” she said.
