MINISTER of Education Nicolette Henry earlier this week met with representatives from the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) and the Guyana Responsible

Parenthood Association (GRPA) to discuss among other issues, bullying in schools.
At the meeting, Minister Henry said she was open to partnership on a National Anti-Bullying Campaign proposed by the GRPA and SASOD, organised in collaboration with other key stakeholders for Education Month in September. The organisations and the ministry agree that through this campaign, secondary school students will be sensitised on the various forms of violence, and made aware of social support services and redress mechanisms if they are being bullied.

According to them, the campaign will include a nation-wide essay competition for Grades 7 to 9 students on bullying and discrimination based on gender in schools. The campaign will run into Bullying Prevention Month in October and culminate on Spirit Day, which is commemorated on the third Thursday of the month, October 18, this year.

It is no secret that bullying in schools has not been tackled frontally by parents, teachers and the Ministry of Education over the years and this proposed campaign is a necessary step in the way forward. We have seen in the past, videos on social media of physical fights between students with their fellow classmates cheering them on and only last year a 14-year-old student of Lusignan Secondary School, East Coast Demerara (ECD) was stabbed in the neck by another student during a fight in close proximity to the Beterverwagting (BV) Police Station. From the report this newspaper had carried, these two young women had an ongoing issue and from all indications, nothing was done by the authorities to prevent it from escalating.

School bullying has probably been around since the 18th century. It is a negative human condition that has evolved along with the mind and psyche. Bullying started with children ‘picking’ on each other or parents believing that they are teaching their kids “discipline” by beating them. Adults used to believe that kids fought only to be “best friends in the end.” Bullying also resulted from conforming to prejudiced social norms like gender stereotyping of men and women. The idea of “boys will be boys” and “girls are catty” has given way to accepting unacceptable negative social behaviour. However, with awareness and strategies, bullying in school can be controlled.

Incidentally, last year, the GRPA hosted a street fair to increase awareness on the subject, in recognition of its National Bullying Prevention Month, but nothing has happened since. According to a report in one of the daily newspapers, in May of 2012, a call was made by lecturer attached to the University of Guyana’s Tain Campus, Maureen Bynoe, for the Ministry of Education to adopt a national anti-bullying strategy to target students of all ages. The report stated that Bynoe’s proposal was premised on a survey she had conducted, aimed at assessing the extent to which bullying has infiltrated schools along Central Corentyne, Berbice. The study discovered that ethnicity was a major factor that contributed to bullying in the school system.

Aside from the reasons as to why students bully each other, the study, according to Bynoe, focused on the forms of bullying, the consequences of bullying on the victim, what strategies have been effective in dealing with bullying and whether there was a significant difference in the form of bullying due to gender.

While this lecturer’s study focused on schools in Berbice, we believe a similar study needs to be conducted by the Ministry of Education, focusing on schools across the country with major involvement of students, parents and teachers. With this study, we will know the core issue that leads to bullying and from there an action plan can be drafted and implemented. The bullies will be identified and get the necessary help. Parents and teachers need to work together, as they play an integral role in preventing bullying. Teachers especially need to pay more attention to students’ behaviour.

For a start we urge that a national anti-bullying awareness campaign be launched across schools; the implementation of firm, school-wide rules with severe punishment for bullying; spread acceptance and respect; include anti-bullying messages and information in school-related publications, newspapers and signboards and also schools should implement the random acts of kindness culture with rewards for the kindest and most creative student. The time to act is now and we need to protect our children.