Maris Stella High School's unique reason for potential students to choose them: 'We are zero-bullying'
As Singapore students choose a secondary school in the wake of the PSLE results, a prominent Catholic boys' school is claiming a unique reason for students to choose them: a "Zero-Bullying" environment.
In a Facebook post on Nov 27, Maris Stella High School listed "Ten Reasons Why" potential students should choose to attend the almost 70-year-old school, which is already regarded as a prestigious institution.
Besides being a Special Assistance Plan (SAP) school and having "caring and nurturing teachers", it was the fourth reason that stood out: "We are a Zero-Bullying school: With our award-winning school-wide bullying prevention programme, Stop!t@MarisStella, you are safe in Maris Stella!"
Redditor @sagi271190 shared the school's post later in the day, saying: "When a school is using 'zero bullying' to advertise itself, I think it reflects a pretty sad state of affairs all around. Would you agree?"
The post drew immediate skepticism from netizens.
Some praised Maris Stella for tackling the issue of bullying. "I think the fact that the school has the guts to put this up actually acts like a guarantee to parents. This is way better than schools that can't say this," said a Redditor.
"Good on the school to highlight the issue. Some schools don't even care and victim blame. It's a solid point to be made," said another.
Others felt it would be difficult to deliver on the promise of zero-bullying.
"It's unrealistic to expect zero bullying [sic] in any school because teachers cannot control every action made by groups of immature children and teenagers. Hence why [sic] many hold the sentiment that this zero bullying [sic] promise will likely age poorly," said a netizen.
Another felt that the school might even go to the extent of covering up such cases, while some thought that there should not be any bullying to begin with.
"I think the issue is that zero-bullying schools should be the norm, not the exception. That Marie [sic] Stella is able to advertise this as a selling point is an indictment on [sic] the school system as a whole for failing to stamp out bullying," said a commenter.
The issue of bullying in schools has gained prominence in recent months, following the Sengkang Green Primary School incident in August, where three students bullied a female classmate and sent death threats to her mother.
A Ministry of Education (MOE) review of its approach to handling bullying, which began earlier in 2025, will include parents, educators, professionals and the community in the next phase.
In an August Reddit thread that sparked heated debate, netizens questioned the effectiveness of the proposed measures and called for specialised teams comprising non-teachers to tackle bullying.
Stomp has reached out to Maris Stella High School for comment.
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