THE MIND OF THE PEOPLE – Singapore introduced new guidelines that allow caning to be imposed on male students who are found to be involved in bullying at school, including cyberbullying. Reported by The Guardian on Wednesday, May 6 2026, these guidelines were discussed at a Singapore parliamentary session on Tuesday and make flogging a last resort when other treatment measures are deemed inadequate.
Under the new rules, male students can receive up to three lashes. Singapore’s Education Minister Desmond Lee told lawmakers that caning would only be applied “if all other measures are inadequate, given the gravity of the offense committed”.
Lee also stressed that caning must be approved in advance by the school principal and should only be carried out by authorized teachers, with strict protocols in place to ensure student safety.
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This penalty only applies to male students at the upper elementary school level with an age range of 9 to 12 years and above. Lee referred to Singapore’s criminal procedure code which prohibits caning women. For female students, the applicable punishments remain in the form of school detention, suspension, behavioral grade adjustments, and other school-based sanctions.
After the caning is imposed, the school will monitor the student’s welfare and development, including providing counselling, according to Lee’s explanation to parliament.
Cyberbullying is no exception
These guidelines are the result of a year-long review that focused on the issue of bullying in schools. The review was carried out after several school bullying incidents received widespread attention from the Singaporean public last year. Cyberbullying being explicitly mentioned as falling within the scope of these guidelines reflects the broadening of the definition of bullying as digital activity among students increases.
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Judicial caning was first introduced in Singapore by British colonialists in the 19th century and is still used today for male criminals aged under 50 years. Crimes that can be punished by caning in Singapore include robbery, fraud and overstaying a visit permit for more than 90 days.
However, this policy is not free from international criticism. Organizations such as UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, oppose the use of corporal punishment against children, arguing that it damages their physical and mental health and increases behavioral problems in the long term. A report released by the World Health Organization or WHO last year said corporal punishment was still “alarmingly” prevalent throughout the world and caused significant harm to children’s health and development.
Globally, an estimated 1.2 billion children aged 0 to 18 years experience physical punishment at home every year based on WHO data.***
