Schools conduct drills and exercises to prepare students for potential threats: MOE

SINGAPORE – Schools and institutes of higher learning (IHLs) have been conducting drills and exercises to prepare students in the event of potential threats from outside and within the school.

These sessions cover immediate response, recognising warning signs, incident reporting, and escalation, to strengthen emergency preparedness in schools, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on July 27.

It added that it will continue to enhance its emergency response to any new evolving threats.

This followed news that three male youths, aged 14, 15 and 19, had been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for plotting attacks in Singapore.

The Internal Security Department (ISD) said that the three youths were self-radicalised online by violent extremist ideologies, and had made preparations to conduct attacks.

The youngest boy had planned to kill his Secondary Two schoolmates and non-Muslim teachers during the June holidays.

The oldest detained intended to attack Singapore Armed Forces personnel outside Sembawang Air Base, as well as his LGBTQ schoolmates.

In a statement on the same day, ISD said that youth radicalisation has been a pressing concern. It noted that of the 23 youths dealt with under the ISA in the past decade, more than half had planned to carry out attacks locally.

These radicalised youths have also been getting younger. The 14-year-old is the youngest to date to be issued with a Detention Order.

There were three 14-year-olds previously issued with Restriction Orders, which means they cannot travel out of Singapore or access social media without approval.

ISD had earlier highlighted that young people were being radicalised faster, noting that the average time for self-radicalisation dropped to eight months for cases between 2020 and 2025, down from 14 months in earlier years.

MOE said that students learn about the negative impact of extreme ideas, prejudice and stereotypes, and explore how these can be addressed in Social Studies and Secondary History, and Character and Citizenship Education (CCE).

“Cyber Wellness lessons in CCE teach students to be safe, respectful and responsible users of cyberspace, and to be a positive influence online. Students develop skills to recognise risks online, and identify and discern negative influences and inappropriate websites.

“Students are also taught to look out for one another and encouraged to seek help from trusted adults like parents, teachers or school counsellors,” said the ministry.

Separately, school staff, including teachers, are trained to identify students who may be at risk of being self-radicalised online.

MOE said: “For instance, school counsellors work closely with teachers and other school personnel to look out for students who may be at risk, so that timely intervention can be provided when concerns are identified.

“School leaders and teachers are also guided on prompt handling of such cases, including providing timely guidance and counselling so that issues can be addressed before they escalate to more serious levels.”

The ministry also works with the ISD to carry out counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation workshops across different education levels.

“These efforts sensitise participants to the terrorism threat, tell-tale signs of radicalisation, and the importance of early reporting,” said MOE.

For secondary school students with school-issued devices, the ministry has installed filtering software to block harmful online material. School wireless networks also restrict access to inappropriate websites, including those containing extremist content.

To safeguard Singaporeans, especially children, from harmful content online, the police on July 27 issued a disabling direction to an online service provider and two access-blocking directions to Internet service providers under the Online Criminal Harms Act.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) did not specify the service providers, but said the restrictions pertain to terrorism-related content that can be accessed by those in Singapore.

The disabling direction requires the targeted platform to take “all reasonable steps” to block Singapore-based users from viewing specific online videos, while the access-blocking directions compel internet service providers to restrict access to certain websites.

MHA said the videos and websites that had been singled out contained terrorism content which included material supporting ISIS, mass shooters and violence.

They also glorified extremists and called for people to join their cause, the ministry added.

“Investigations have established a direct nexus between the content and past self-radicalisation cases in Singapore, where youths became radicalised after consuming content from these sites or obtained information from these sites to plot their attacks.”

MHA said that online platforms must not be used to spread terrorist ideology to people in Singapore, adding that the uptick in self-radicalisation cases here, especially among youth, is a “matter of deep concern”.

It said it is working with the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and MOE to protect Singaporeans from such online content.

MHA said members of the public – especially parents and teachers – should be vigilant about youth being exposed to harmful content online.

Separately, the ISD said that the authorities cannot detect every single case of radicalisation, with family members and friends being the best placed to notice signs.

Anyone who knows or suspects that a person has been radicalised should contact the ISD hotline on 1800-2626-473 or e-mail isd@mha.gov.sg

The same should be done if one encounters content that glorifies or incites violence online.