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Bullying seriously affects the psycho-social welfare of learners

School bullying occurs either inside or outside of school. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or emotional and is usually repeated over a period of time. In schools, bullying can occur in nearly any part of the school grounds; and more often occurs during school breaks, in hallways, bathrooms, on school buses, in classes that require group work and/or after school activities. Bullying in school sometimes consists of a group of learners taking advantage of, or isolating, one learner in particular and gaining the loyalty of bystanders who want to avoid becoming the next victim.

A new poll conducted by UNICEF and their partners shows that more than nine out of ten young people believe bullying is a pervasive problem in their communities, and two-thirds say they have experienced bullying first. The poll was conducted through a global U-Report, a rapidly growing youth engagement tool that provides a platform for over 2 million young U-Reporters from more than 20 countries. Through the poll, young people were asked a series of questions relating to the impact of bullying in their community, their own personal experiences of bullying and what they think can be done to end this type of violence via SMS, Facebook and Twitter.

“Bullying, including online bullying, remains a largely misunderstood risk to the wellbeing of children and young people. To end this type of violence, we must improve public awareness of the harmful impact of bullying, equip teachers, parents and peers with the skills to identify risks and report incidents; and provide care and protection for victims,” said UNICEF’s Senior Adviser on Child Protection, Ms Theresa Kilbane.

Click on the below link to view the anti-bullying message from Ms Zolani Mahola, South African actress and lead singer of the South African music group Freshly Ground:

http://www.education.gov.za/Programmes/SafetyinSchools.aspx

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