Need for decisive action on bullying

THE EDITOR: According to TT’s Education Policy 2023-2027, the intended curriculum reforms support “the holistic development of skills and values, attitudes and behaviours of the ideal TT citizen…the minister shall contribute towards the development of the human resources, physical, mental, moral and spiritual needs of the community.”

Despite these lofty goals the education system remains mired in failure.

The Ministry of Education has been grappling with bullying for generations, with little progress. Bullying has been defined by the Anti-Bullying Alliance as “the intentional hurting of one person by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.” Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological.

Long ago in TT “pantsing” (pulling down trousers) was prevalent. It developed into extortion, taxing, sexual bullying and cyber-shaming.

A 2006 investigation into bullying among third standard primary school students in TT by Vidya Lall of UWI indicated that 20 per cent of those students have been bullied.

Research conducted by Randy Seepersad in 2014 found that 98.4 per cent of those surveyed indicated they were bullied over the past term and 40.4 per cent said bullies tried to take money from them.

An Anti-Bullying Association of TT was launched in 2018. Questions have been raised about cyberbullying at St Augustine and about hazing or ragging at Mona. It seems that we are not effectively dealing with bullying.

Although no one can diminish the hurt and trauma experienced by bullying victims, everyone should be concerned that the schools where bullying takes place are actually serving as breeding grounds for criminals and extortionists. Is our increasing crime rate the net result of prolonged denials and suppression of entrenched bullying in some of the schools in TT?

While we seek big names to lead programmes of dubious quality, we should be giving attention to schools, where attendance is compulsory. There should be continuous monitoring and evaluation of anti-bullying measures in schools.

There are well-known and proven strategies for bullying in our schools. Schools are not sanctuaries where criminals are free to rob and threaten others, therefore incidents of bullying should be reported to the police.

School supervisors should assess the social climate of schools that they supervise, and report annually to the public. Principals, heads and deans should be vigilant, visible and involved.

A system for anonymous reporting should be established for reports of bullying to be made to the ministry and the regional supervisor. Online resources such as WhatsApp and e-mail can be considered, with safeguards against false reports.

Orientation of students should clarify bullying and outline procedures for anonymous reporting. The school curricula should be revised to place greater emphasis on teaching and assessing students’ levels of patriotism and peaceful behaviour. Educational personnel should be retrained to become more sensitive to social and behavioural issues that are common in these times.

I place the blame for the continuance of bullying in schools firmly on neglect by the ministry and the school-based administrative personnel. For too long those responsible have avoided taking decisive action on this issue and in some cases have shielded incidents to preserve the reputation of the school. This must not continue.

This is the fourth letter I have written on bullying in our schools since 2017, but I must continue my appeals in the interest of long suffering victims and their frustrated parents.

DAVID SUBRAN

PhD, education

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