BULLYING EVERYWHERE

Have you experienced bullying? Most of you would say `Yes`. You’re not alone. Unfortunately, bullying has become very common at schools. According to a study, including young people aged 12-17 in the UK, half of them claimed they were bullied by some others at school. Some of these students said they were bullied almost every day.

Bullying is not just physical, like hitting or kicking someone, or taking their things without asking them. Bullying can also be with words, saying or writing unkind things to some other students at school. Another type of bullying is social. Some students choose not to make friends with certain students, embarrass them or tell other people not to be friends with them, either. This kind of bullying happens generally at school but bullying can also happen on public transport, when you’re on your way home or more commonly now it is online. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it can happen anywhere.

There is usually an imbalance of power with bullying. There is one person or a group that is more powerful than another. This person may be more popular, or they might be physically bigger and stronger. There are the people who bully and those who are bullied. Sometimes other people around might help the bully or join in. These are the kids who don’t bully anyone directly, but they support the bullying by being an audience. They laugh or encourage the children who are bullying others.

Why do we need to take an action against bullying? About 1.5 million young people in the UK were bullied last year. People who are bullied can easily suffer from depression and anxiety. They might lose interest in the activities they enjoy, avoid spending time with other people and not go to school. These factors will have a negative effect on students` learning.

This is why it’s important for everyone to work together against bullying. Some children see what is happening and want to help but they may not know how to do it. Others may help by comforting and defending the person who is being bullied. If we want to stop bullying, we need everyone to be brave and take a stand.

Does your school do anything to prevent bullying? You can go and create a student anti-bullying group? This group can do many things like letting the head teacher know how well the school is doing with fighting bullying and giving them advice. You can create a catchy anti-bullying slogan for your school, make posters and displays or use the school’s social media for a week to send out anti-bullying messages. Bullying is a social problem and it needs a solution from society in other words, everyone. The next time you see someone being cruel to someone else, don’t just go away! Don’t laugh or ignore what’s happening. The best thing to do is to tell an adult as soon as possible and help everyone to understand that bullying is not acceptable.

(Adapted from the British Council website.)