Handling Bullying in School

Bullying in schools is a very serious and sensitive issue and needs to be handled with utmost maturity by parents, teachers and administrators. Creating a safe environment where students feel empowered and encouraged to communicate effectively as well as teaching empathy and support by peers encourages the victims to stand up against the bullies. Availability of a counsellor in school who are adept with a problem solving approach and providing a network in the school where teachers, office staff, supporting staff and the student body are all trained to keep a strict vigilance in the premises so as to overcome the menace of bullying.

One thing we can all be absolutely certain about is that bullying can have serious damaging consequences. These bullies can grow up with a mindset that hurting others is fun, that it’s fine to be violent and inflict harm, as well as an over confident approach that perpetrators are not usually caught or punished.

Some strategies that may be employed to control bullying.

1. Student bodies assigned responsibility for monitoring bullying -Student bodies like the Student Council or even Student Monitors in classrooms should be assigned this responsibility. Sometimes it’s easier for students to get a whiff of what’s happening around than the teachers.
2. Frequent Parent-Teacher-Child Interactions – This Interaction Triangle is a powerful tool that can control bullying to a large extent. Open and frequent interactions between these three parties can be very beneficial for the child’s overall development and well-being.
3. Creating awareness about Bullying – Various techniques like story-telling, constant reminders during school assemblies, as well as content such as Anti-Bullying posters can help in creating awareness amongst students.
4. Counselling – Counselling should be made available to students, so that bullies, as well as those who’re bullied, can benefit.

Parents who teach empathy and compassion through their own behaviour and do not abuse others who are less powerful are the best teacher of anti bullying behaviour.

The same applies in schools too. Teachers interaction with each other in the premises should enable student to imbibe the qualities of compassion and empathy and build a culture of respect amongst all the students.