Stand Up – Speak Out – Prevent Bullying!

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2016 more than 1 out of every 5 children were bullied either mentally, physically or through social media.

Students who experience bullying are twice as likely as non-bullied peers to experience health side effects like headaches and stomach aches and are at increased risk for sleep difficulties, anxiety, and depression.

Bullying is the reason for more than 40% of most of the student suicides.

When considering the statistics, mentally, physically and emotionally weak children are more likely to get bullied than the rest. Sarcastic comments and isolating someone from a group are two most common ways of bullying somebody. In some cases, the mental and physical scars that are caused due to bullying can last a lifetime. In order to make an educational institution environment bullying free, we must target both the victims and perpetrators individually of bullying. Sometimes it is not the victim that needs help.

Bullying persists on a campus because the management isn’t able to notice it when its happening. For successful prevention, management must find out how bullying is happening in the premises and how student life is affected because of this. All the isolated children aren’t necessarily bullied and vice versa. Faculty should stand together to prevent such malpractices from happening. Children who need mental and physical care should be treated as equal to other children and students must be taught to take care of them.

Students with learning and physical disabilities, autism and other disabilities are more likely to be bullied in the schools than any other. Fat shaming, sexuality issues, financial circumstances are other reasons for bullying.

Stand up for the weak ones

Everyone is different. Some love Harry Potter and some others headbang to Slayer. Some excel in maths and some others in Rugby. If everyone was equal world might have become a boring place to live. There are children who are brought up weak and there are ones who are born weak. Peer support is the best help that one could get to survive bullying.

Teach your children to be nice and kind to one another. Teach them to help those in needs. For the weak one, effects of bullying can be minimized if other people are willing to care. Even if it is a warm tap in the back or even a smile, these little things mean a world for the sufferers.

Educators should pay attention to the warning signs of bullying, including unexplained injuries, anxiety, fear towards school etc. Most of them tend to hide the facts that they are bullied. Teachers should engage with students and encourage open conversations.