(Kuala Lipis), PRDM Kulim, Muadzam Shah, Kepala Batas, Taiping, Gerik and Pendang. The Commission was aware that there were some MJSC schools that were reluctant to cooperate. For this reason, the Commission decided to also organise talks at other schools instead. In June, the Commission started to expand the programme to non-MJSC schools such as Sekolah Menengah Sains Hulu Selangor and Sekolah Menengah Agama Slim River. The Commission also visited Asrama 1Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. CHAPTER 2 The Commission is of the opinion that by running the programme in both MJSC and non-MJSC schools, we are able to make comparisons in our study and examine how differently the issues affect students in different types of boarding schools. From the Commission’s observations, most of the students were not aware of human rights at all, while very few of them had basic knowledge about human rights. Neither were they aware of the existence of the Human Rights Commission. However, the students seemed very interested to know about human rights especially when they were asked, at the beginning of each session, about their knowledge and opinion of human rights. The students were all aware of bullying, and that it was occurring in their schools. However, they were not clear on the different types of bullying. Most of them had the impression that bullying only occurred in “physical” forms. From the talks, students started to understand that bullying may occur in non-physical forms, and includes cyber-bullying. The Commission received several complaints from the students on incidents that happened to them in school such as name-calling, teasing, and hurtful comments. Some of the students had been asked to do things for their seniors, such as to prepare instant noodles, buy food at the cafeteria, collect clothes from the laundry, etc. In addition to this, some students had been ostracized from certain groups and experienced rumours being spread about them. These are all considered forms of bullying, which some of the students did not realise. These types of bullying had previously been more common amongst female students, but they are becoming increasingly more common amongst male students in recent years. Overall, the talks enabled the students to have a better understanding of bullying and how to respond or react if they became victims to it. In certain schools, the Commission had the opportunity to speak to the school counsellors or the principal. It was disappointing to hear that some of them think bullying is an accepted norm especially in boarding schools. To them, bullying is a form of “character-building” for the students and is a form of training to make the students more independent and stronger in the future. Such feedback indicates that even members of the faculty 100 SUHAKAM ANNUAL REPORT 2016 suhakam 2new.indd 100 3/23/17 5:54 PM