Bullying in school and how it affects children
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behaviour among school age children. It includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumours, attacking someone physically or verbally and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
According to Home of Parent & Child (online) Magazine, victims of bullying are often shy and tend to be physically weaker than their peers. It further says they may also have low self-esteem and poor social skills, which makes it hard for them to stand up for themselves. Bullies consider these children safe targets because they usually don’t retaliate.
Research conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services shows that bullying among children and young people affects their confidence, ability to learn and capacity for friendships, among others.
Misesa Primary School pupil, Kate Phiri (not real name) has been a victim of bullying at the school. Phiri says she has been tortured and harassed by fellow pupils because she is fat.
It is hard to convince the girl to go back to school for fear of being bullied, her mother says.
College of Medicine psychologist Chiwoza Bandawe says bullying negatively affects lives of children who are victims. Bandawe says it is also likely to cause a number of threats to the life of both the bully and the victim.
“Bullying lowers the academic performance of a child and causes lack trust in people. There is so much fear in the bullied children such that they cannot participate in any activities openly and freely,” says Bandawe.
He says the problem of bullying can be curbed if schools come up with programmes to support children who have been bullied. He adds that schools should also provide room for counselling to both the bullies and those that are bullied.
Parents and schools can work together to help a bullied child meet and make new friends.
Head teacher of Lisawo Primary School in Chiradzulu, Anne Evelyn Mlongoti, says her school has not yet put in place policies to deal with bullying
“As a government school, we cannot say that there is a special programme that was designed to deal with bullying. However, we punish the student that is caught bullying a fellow student,” says Mlongoti.
How can parents support both the bully and the bullied?
The online magazine advises parents to give their children space to talk about their experience.
“If the problem persists, or the teacher ignores your concerns and your child starts to withdraw or not want to go to school, let the child see a counsellor or psychologist,” reads the article in part.
