12-Year-Old Invents Anti-Bullying Tech To Stop Bullying Incidents At His School In Klang
His primary motivation was to stop his sister from being bullied.
By Sadho Ram — 12 Jan 2019, 12:41 PM
At Sekolah Rendah Islam Hira, a primary school in Klang, bullying among students is rampant. And one of the constant victims is an eight-year-old girl, whose brother wasn't willing to just stand by and watch. He decided to go high-tech to stop his little sister's bullies.
The brother, joined forces with his eight-year-old sister and two of their friends to work on a tech that works like a notification cum alert system for teachers to take action.
The four of them called it the Anti-Bully Notification System. It enables teachers to react immediately whenever there are cases of bullying taking place within school grounds.
Umar Wafi Zulkafri, the 12-year-old boy who invented the system, got the idea after seeing his sister's constant tears and complaints about being bullied at the school.
Umar with his little sister Hasya, showing the system he developed with his friends.
Image via Faliq Lajim/NSTPThe 12-year-old boy, however, is not done. He plans to upgrade it.
According to a report in NST Online, which interviewed Umar, he plans to upgrade the invention by adding CCTV cameras to it so that clear evidence can be recorded.
Umar explains that the system currently has two buttons, with one meant for verbal bullying while the other button designed for physical bullying.
"This device with two buttons will be placed around the school including in classes and toilets. Those who are bullied or witness bullying can hit one of the two buttons.
"When the button is pressed, a notification is immediately sent to the teachers' room and their mobile phones. The teacher will also be alerted to the location of the bullying incident so immediate action can be taken," Umar was quoted saying by NST Online.
Umar's invention is already a hit, with several other schools expressing interest in installing the anti-bully notification system
However, the school's Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programme coordinator Muhammad Fadhil Mahmud Fakri said they want the system, on which Umar and his team started working last year, to be launched in their school first.
"This year, we plan to expand on his innovation by placing the notification system in all classes and locations where bullying often takes place.
"For now, only two classes have been fitted with the system and only the men's teachers' room can receive notification as we do not have enough funds.
"We need at least RM1,500 to place it in 40 locations we have identified including the location receivers in four women's teachers' room," NST Online quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, Umar and his team's invention has bagged two awards
They won the Gold Award and Best Performance Award at the 2018 International Stem Olympiad and the Gold Award and Diamond Award at the Smart Selangor Young Innovator For Primary School.
