Bullying, a vice that must be kicked out of schools

A pupil is said to have hit another on the head with a chair at a popular school in Kampala not long ago. The child died minutes after arriving at the hospital where he was rushed for first aid. The deceased’s parents mentioned that they had raised a complaint with the school about their child being bullied by a classmate.

The school perhaps thought it a light case and did not act about it with the urgency it deserved.
Studies have revealed that bullying in school can have severe consequences for victims, including depression, psychosis, self-harm, death and suicide.

With increasing evidence that schools continue to grapple with the vice, there needs to be effective programmes in place.

Henry Kiryowa, a Primary Five pupil at New Horizon Primary School in Mukono, knows firsthand what bullying can do. He has not experienced bullying himself but when he identifies someone behaving like ‘a god’ towards another, he knows there is a problem. As the academic prefect at the school, he explains that his school promotes a good learning environment.

A recent UNESCO report on school violence and bullying has telling revelations. It discloses that bullying in school can be devastating, with victimised children finding it difficult to concentrate in class, sometimes missing classes, avoiding school activities, playing truant or dropping out of school altogether.

Such an atmosphere of anxiety, fear and insecurity undermines the quality of education for all learners.

Bullying is a direct misuse of power. According to Joseph Balikuddembe, the head teacher of Rays of Grace Primary School in Kiruga, Buikwe District, bullying is just one way people misuse power. He says this is sometimes bred by the environment children are exposed to.

“There is invisible violence that young people are exposed to in their everyday lives,” Balikuddembe says.

“Children tend to adapt to what they observe in their spaces and violence in movies and video games is corrupting children extensively,” he adds.

Balikuddembe says if a child comes from a family where the father bullies the mother or elder siblings misuse power, they learn to behave the same way when they meet children they find inferior.

In need of answers
Some people argue that bullying is as old as schooling. According to Andrew Bosco Otim, the disciplinary master of New Horizon PS, bullying is wide and comes in all angles.

Bullying is characterised by aggressive behaviour that involves physical attacks, fights, destroying property, unwanted sexual touches as well as verbal abuse, emotional abuse, social exclusion, sexual comments and jokes as well as discrimination.

But Otim says physical bullying is the most common type. He adds that it normally happens when children are bullied for their physical appearance, saying during his time in school, bigger boys would hit, kick, push or shove around smaller ones.

Vulnerable students are attacked by peers as Keith Mukisa, a Primary Six pupil, reported being shoved by a big boy on the basketball court. “He asked for my break money and I refused so when we were on the basketball court in the evening, he pushed me and I injured my fingers,” Mukisa said.

Beyond physical
Otim adds that there are also cases of emotional bullying. This is normally expressed in forms of making fun of others with sexual jokes, comments or gestures. “Some bullies observe the emotions of others and take advantage. It is very hard to identify but it is very common in school environments,” Otim says.

Although he does not have evidence based on colour and family backgrounds, he observes that through experience, some children are bullied along those lines. He says children from poorer families are sometimes vulnerable to bullying, even by teachers.

“Some teachers want to befriend rich or White parents and always treat their children differently,” he says.

Religion is also mentioned as another reason for being bullied. Otim says that schools that have a dominant religion tend to bully those with a different faith. “For example, when it is a Muslim school, some children will treat Christians differently,” he says.

Otim explains that physical bullying is more common among boys than girls, while the opposite is true for psychological bullying.

What can the schools do?
Stefania Giannini, the assistant director-general for Education Unesco, while commenting on the Safe to Learn Campaign, which aims to end all violence in schools by 2024, observed early this year that: “School-related violence in all its forms is an infringement on children’s rights to education and to health and well-being. No country can achieve inclusive and equitable quality education for all if learners experience violence and bullying in school.”

A UN report indicates that globally, one in three children experience bullying and a similar proportion are affected by physical violence.

But there is no shortage of anti-bullying programmes offered by schools. The programmes are varied including teaching resources and discipline plans, as well as parent meetings and improved playground supervision.

At New Horizon PS, Otim says they approach bullying from a Biblical perspective. “We promote an inclusive environment and we continuously teach our children that we are all made in God’s image,” he says. But he opines that this teaching sometimes falls short. It is at such a stage that they employ what he calls ‘timeout’ to the bully. During this time, they aim at making the bully reflect on his actions by putting him in a solitary place.

“We do not cane anyone but with timeout, we aim at the bully apologising. Bullies hate to humble themselves and when you make them apologise, they are likely to reform,” he says.

In the school compound, Otim says the school emphasises the role of the “neighbourhood watch” programme. He says teachers are normally positioned in the compound to see what is happening with children while they play.

Works not words
Galaxy International School normally holds a number of activities during the Anti-Bullying Week that falls in January.

During this week, students are involved in several activities including; interactive lessons about the meaning of bullying and how to stop it, singing songs, creating an awareness campaign with posters and videos, apology boxes as well as students writing essays and poems about bullying.

Interventions
Uganda has been hailed by the UN as one of the leading countries with effective policies aimed at protecting children against any forms of violence. In 2006, corporal punishment was banned in schools and, in 2015, the National Strategic Plan on the Elimination of Violence against Children was launched.

Another important tool in response to school violence is the Good School Toolkit by Raising Voices, which has been shown to be one of the most effective. This toolkit emphasises shifting mind-sets of those attending teacher training colleges, and all teachers, to increase their understanding of the responsibility they have in addressing school violence.