MALAYSIA - IF you missed the big fight in school last week, it's still not too late to catch it. Just watch it online.

Hundreds of video clips featuring student brawls -- violent gang fights and vicious cat fights -- are being posted online by young people, an act largely attributed to the need for public acceptance and popularity.

The latest is a three-minute video of three secondary schoolgirls arguing and later punching and slapping each other in a school toilet while others watched.

Another one, involving two teenage boys, shows a fist-fight lasting almost three minutes that ended with one of them bleeding.

Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said while fights did occurred, he claimed that not everything portrayed in those videos was real.

"Sometimes, what is posted on YouTube may not be the real thing. It may just be several students acting to get some attention.

"They do it for fun but when the public sees it, they assume it is real."

Alimuddin, referring to the recent case in SMK Oya in Mukah, in which the video of three students beating up a schoolmate was posted on YouTube but later removed, said it was difficult to identify which student posted it.

"The truth is, we cannot pinpoint who uploaded those clips unless they own up.

"It is up to the school authorities to regulate and monitor what is going in schools."

"We need to get back to basic and not allow mobile phones in schools."

Alimuddin said the problem was on teenagers seeking fame.

"They want to be popular. Teachers should educate their students of the consequences of posting such clips online. Discipline teachers also need to monitor these sites.

"They need to put a stop to it before it goes out of hand." --NST