After observing the progressive deterioration of discipline in our schools in the last few years and the continued failure of the responsible parties to arrest it effectively, I, as a parent, cannot but feel very sad and helpless about it.

I was once very confident of our commitment to eradicate bullying through strong affirmative actions such as the one demonstrated by Anwar Ibrahim during an incident at a school in Cheras some 12 years ago, if I recall, when he was the education minister.

Anwar made several surprise visits to the school and addressed both the school staff and the students. He monitored the developments personally and subsequently replaced the headmaster with a candidate of his own choice.

This action proved to be effective when the school was later reported as doing well both in SPM results and in extracurricular activities.

On the other hand, Hishammuddin's response to the bullying incident at Sekolah Menengah Ugama Datuk Kelana in Negeri Sembilan that resulted in the death of Muhammad Farid Ibrahim is a disappointment.

The first thing he did was to appoint a task force and establish a hotline. Then he was shown reading a press report. He appeared very remote and not to directly address the problem. He was only quoted as saying that he wished the same would not happen to his own children.

Creating one task force for each problem and never to address it personally appears to be the flavour of the day. This is a parody of our civil servants and political masters. This has given rise to unnecessary bureaucracy and ineffectiveness in handling such urgent and serious cases.

At the new education minister, Hishammuddin has proven himself to be nothing more than a roof-top general who stands high and mighty, commanding from on high, never descending to the ground to dirty his hands and take over challenges himself.

I must say that it looks as though we will never be able to eradicate this and other problems, such as truancy, at our schools as long as the minister himself harbours such an attitude. On a scale of five, Hishammuddin to me would only score two points as against the score of 4.5 that I gave to Anwar Ibrahim.

Now, I began to appreciate why Pak Lah needs to appoint 25 percent of his members of parliaments as ministers.