BULLYING among schoolchildren has thus far been treated with tolerance on the part of schools and parents unless, of course, violence is involved. Disruptive, aggressive or pernicious behaviour is brought to the attention of the parents. Where the problem is considered minor, then the recourse would be to encourage the victim to stand up for him or herself. Often, among the very young, it is a socialisation process, to pick up living skills outside of the family environment. It is then necessary to build up a measure of resilience in each child as they begin their journey in life.
However, cases of serious bullying cannot be indulged, not for a second, because the trauma inflicted on the bullied child can be debilitating. The bullies must definitely be brought to book. The Education Minister has recently proposed that school bullies, at both primary and secondary levels, be suspended for a year. This would indeed remove the offensive child from the school community, but as a solution, it ignores the interests of that child. The system relieves itself of responsibility, leaving the suspended bully to the vagaries of a home environment that, in all probability, is the root cause. A few voices have been supportive, but more have voiced concern because a year is a long time. If that year away from school is not properly defined, then there is every possibility of the situation and behaviour worsening.
There are four categories of bullying: violence or assault; theft; repeated harassment and intimidation, such as name calling, threats, abusive phone calls, emails, short messages and the like; and, hate crimes. Schools must have a “behaviour policy” in line with the country’s anti-discrimination law and teachers are expected to act on complaints through disciplining the bully or, when the cases are severe, the incident is reported to the police or social services, as appropriate. In the United Kingdom, for example, if bullying involves a crime, then a police report is lodged.
What about housing bullies in a borstal? Or a milder institution, like for the borderline criminal, because bullying can be considered as such. Focus then could be on behaviour correction. Perhaps, a boarding school with military discipline administered by “sergeant majors” barking orders where counselling is a fundamental corrective component to reform seriously delinquent young people? Presuming that in a peer group of like-minded troublemakers — provocateurs all — the bullies would find a pecking order difficult to establish, but then their survival instinct will kick in and learning to give and take will come naturally. The premise is that the child is not a criminal, but morally inadequate, defiant, wayward and undisciplined; if left alone, the child will ultimately tend towards criminality. This institution aims, therefore, to arrest a child’s behavioural degradation, while simultaneously ensuring that their intellectual potential is not lost. And, assuming that good parenting does not produce bad apples, their parents must be held accountable, even fined, counselled and made to undergo parenting skills classes.