KUALA LUMPUR: Teachers handling bullying and violence cases in schools should receive trauma management training, confidential counselling and psychological support to help them cope with the emotional toll.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said also proposed incorporating Trauma-Informed Teaching into teacher training to help educators recognise and respond appropriately to students experiencing trauma.
"We often ask how teachers can protect students.
"But we seldom ask: who protects teachers when they themselves have to face trauma and violence in schools?
"Teachers are also human beings with feelings. Teachers too can experience fear, stress and trauma," she said at the Anti-Bullying Act 2026 Literacy Programme at the Malaysian Teacher Education Institute's Malay Language Campus today.
Azalina said teachers could be traumatised by witnessing students being beaten, listening to disclosures from children who had experienced sexual harassment or facing angry parents following bullying incidents.
"We cannot expect teachers to always be strong to protect others while their own emotional wellbeing is not given attention.
"Therefore, teachers who look after the emotions of students also deserve protection of their own emotions," she said.
She cited Singapore, where education staff have access to counselling and wellbeing support, and New Zealand, where trauma intervention teams help schools manage incidents that could affect the wellbeing of students and staff.
In England, Azalina said, the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter addressed staff wellbeing.
"I am of the view that it is time we look into a more comprehensive approach in providing emotional support to teachers who handle bullying and violence cases in schools," she said.
She said Trauma-Informed Teaching was not intended to turn teachers into psychologists, but to equip them with the skills to recognise signs of trauma, respond safely and identify when professional help was needed.
"Teachers should not be left alone when facing the trauma of their students," she added.
Azalina also called for an end to the perception that bullying was simply part of growing up.
"Bullying is not a joke, bullying is also not training to make someone stronger and bullying is not a form of discipline," she said.
She said legislation alone could not eradicate bullying, adding that teachers were often among the first to recognise when a student was suffering.
"The law can only provide protection, but teachers in schools are among the first individuals who can detect a student's suffering," she added.
Azalina urged trainee teachers to reach out to students who suddenly became withdrawn, were afraid to attend school or distanced themselves from friends, rather than dismissing such changes as normal.
The Anti-Bullying Act 2026 came into force with the launch of the Anti-Bullying Tribunal on June 16.
Azalina told the Dewan Rakyat in December last year that primary and secondary schools had reported an average of more than 14,000 bullying cases annually since 2019.
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