The authorities should be applauded for their fast and firm action against the students who caused the death of their fellow classmate at the religious school in Ampangan.

This will send a strong message to bullies and thugs that it doesn't pay to act tough against your fellow students to show that you are above the law and can do anything without feelings of remorse and guilty conscience.

Bullies are actually cowards and will act tough when there are followers who 'worship' them and are willing to be their cohorts in beating other meek students who are unable to fight back. As a result of this misunderstanding, a young and promising student died and only the Almighty knows how lonely and hurt he felt before his death without anybody raising a hand to help him in his hour of need.

As a parent myself, I grieve together with the parents who lost their loved ones due to the violent acts of bullies and thugs in school. I think the school authorities should be blamed as well in not stopping the rot in discipline and allowing it to get out of control.

Sending the perpetrators to jail for their crime and expelling them from school is the easy part for the authorities in solving juvenile delinquent problems. What about the young minds of those who will be sent to jail for their crime? And the expelled students, what future lies for them if they don't have the right education to find employment?

What about the parents of the children involved? How will they sleep well at night knowing that their offspring has a bleak future? All because of a misadventure as a result of peer pressure to act tough in order to please their ring leaders.

There is more than meets the eye in the youth problems that we are facing now and I dread the reaction when school children who cannot stand the tormenting of their fellow students might commit suicide or worse still carry a weapon to school and kill or injure their tormentor.

This has already happened in some countries. This ills of society can only be solved if we stop pointing fingers at each other when mishaps happen. Nevertheless, I still believe that the parents of delinquent students are to be blamed if their children become bullies at schools in order to stand out among their peers and to be 'worshipped' by their fellow students .