In a recent viral video, a Qihua primary school student was seen being repeatedly attacked. The case is under police investigation but is bullying getting worse in Singapore? What are the causes and why are perpetrators filming their deeds?

Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Dr Cheung Hoi Shan, assistant professor at the National Institute of Education, MOE master school counsellor Sean Ng and Beyond the Label ambassador Cindy Chu.

Here's an excerpt from the conversation: Steven Chia:  Would the underlying causes of bullying be any different? Have they evolved over time? Why do people bully in the first place? 

Sean Ng: From a counseling perspective, we often look at both the presenting issue ... and more importantly, the underlying issues - what is perpetuating the behaviour. And we do know that bullying on its own is complex. For every single student that we see and support for bullying incidents, the reasons can be multiple.  

Steven:  Give us some examples?

Sean: One of the things that we typically see is, of course, learned or socialised behavior. I think Cindy has helped us understand a little bit about how her past experiences impacted her choices and behaviours ...

And if I could maybe raise an example: Previously, when I was in (a) primary school, I was supporting this Primary 6 student ... There were times that he goes into emotional dysregulation episodes. He will lose his temper very easily. He will hit out at the peers in school, use vulgarities even. 

Steve:  But the environment you grew up in, the people around you, (makes a difference).

Crispina Robert: Because some of the videos that we watch are very, very violent. They lead to kids bleeding and with injuries. Is that something that's changed over the years? 

Sean: I'm not sure whether it has changed, but one of the dynamics ... is the effects of peer pressure. And if we look at some of the videos, there are bystanders and peers ... Cheung Hoi Shan: Peer dynamics is so prominent in the secondary school years. I think the recent videos that we saw, these are all teenagers.  

Sean: In MOE (Ministry of Education), what we have tried to do, especially in the last couple of years (is to have) have peer supporters. They are trained within each school and they are the eyes and ears of the teachers, they look out for signs of distress in their peers. If need be, (they will) report to the teachers about certain bullying incidents so that both the student who bullies and the student who is being bullied, both of them actually receive support at the same time. 

Crispina:  But this is so complex, right? Sometimes, they don't want to tell the teacher ...

Cindy Chu:  I wouldn't actually tell the teachers about it. First of all, in my experience, I don't think there were trusted adults, and even if there were, I would face a lot of hesitation because I didn't want to appear weak to other students.