Guardian Media Newspaper

Policy needed for ending bullying in schools

Friday April 20th 2012

For generations, bullying has been a growing phenome-non in the school system in
T&T. It has now become a well-entrenched activity that provides excellent prepara-
tion for future gang members and criminals. A 2006 investigation into bullying among
third standard primary school students in T&T by Vidya Lall of UWI indicated that 20
per cent of those students have been bullied.

Because bullying has been kept under wraps by officials who use denial to protect
their reputation, bullying continues. The recent attempt to trivialise the bullying inci-
dent at Grant Memorial School is a case in point. Bullying involves the systematic in-
fliction of distress by some students on others.

In T&T bullying is often accompanied by extortion. In this age of computer technolo-

gy, we also have cyber bullying where some students are willfully harassed and ma-
ligned on the Internet. These are dangerous developments which must be addressed by
professional educators.

Dr Deosaran stated that some teachers view bullying as a self-defence mechanism

where bullied students turn tables on their tormentors. I must ask who bullied these
self-defenders in the first place. I am of the view that bullying in our schools arises
from a perception by some students of the vulnerability of other students, and the
more powerful act either individually or in groups to exercise their power over the
weak and timid, just as groups of ducks in a pen purposefully attack the weakest in the
flock.

Because education was intended to shape peaceful and considerate behaviour, the ex-
istence of bullying in our schools is a clear indicator of the failure of the education
system. Education professionals should be brought together to craft a policy designed
to end bullying in schools. There can be provision for anonymous reporting with regu-
lations that mandate principals to take prescribed actions such as notifying the police,
within a prescribed period.

Students should be taught how to identify bullying and there should be supervision of
students once the school gates are opened. Principals and staff should be alert to what
is taking place in the playgrounds and washroom areas. Anti-bullying programmes
should go beyond the perimeters of the school and include the wider public in moni-
toring and reporting bullying activities.
We need to confront students with the consequences of lawless behaviour by arrang-
ing visits to the courts and the YTC. Most of all we need a well-designed (non-reli-
gious) programme for positively developing the conscience of students at all levels of
the education system, so that they will experience guilt at the mere thought of harming
others.

David Subran PhD

Chaguanas