Combating violent bullying at schools

The fact that bullying continues unabated over many years, suggests that successive governments have failed the people.

Research conducted on behalf of the Citizen Security Programme of the Ministry of Education by Randy Seepersad, in 2014, reported that of the 1,248 students (Std 2-Std 5) surveyed: * Across all schools, 98.4 percent of students indicated that they had experienced one or more forms of bullying or victimisation within the last term.

* Some 40.4 percent reported that bullies had tried to take money from them, making 48.7 percent of them frightened.

* Some 75.2 percent of males and 55.4 percent of females reported that children kicked each other.

Certainly, this is a situation where bullying in schools has reached epidemic proportions, and it appears reasonable to conclude that the present scourge of lawlessness in TT could very well have its genesis in the school system. Bullying has been nurtured in schools because of the reluctance of some principals to report incidents of extortion and bloodshed to the police, in misguided attempts to shield their schools from negative publicity.

This situation indicates gross mismanagement and supervision of our school.

However, I will not hesitate to add that the present Director of School Supervision in the ministry has the professional competence to bring about a much-needed reversal of this untenable situation. I would like to suggest that consideration be given to the following policies and guidelines: 1. The police should be brought in to deal with any infractions of the law among students.

2. The school supervisors should manage research annually, reporting findings to the public on the effectiveness of instruction and the quality of the social climate for all schools under their purview.

3. Orientation of new students should clarify what constitutes bullying, and outline procedures for anonymous reporting of bullying incidents.

4. Drama should be used as a vehicle for helping students to understand the nature of bullying and to help students handle bullying effectively.

5. The principal, staff, ancillary staff, and students must be assigned roles to combat bullying.

6. The school curricula should be revised to teach mutual consideration and respect for all.

7. Field trips should be arranged to take students to the Youth Training Centre, and the regulations should be amended to allow students to visit the courts where they can witness the outcome of aggressive behaviour.

8. Principals should be held responsible for bullying in their schools.

David Subran via email