Latest update January 22nd, 2025 3:14 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

Time to bring an end to bullying in schools

Nov 30, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – Incidents in which bigger children bully smaller children in school has been around since time immemorial. Bigger children used to relieve smaller children of their caps, lunch flasks and handkerchiefs from as far back as colonial times.

Bullying has always been a problem in schools. Those who claim that there were no bullies in their time at school have selective amnesia. There is no generation that can claim that there was no bullying in their time at school.

The bullying of students is now taken seriously around the world. It is one of the most serious issues in education, because bullying has affected the behaviour of victims well into adulthood. The bullied child needs help. The bullied child must not be seen as weak. He or she must be seen as a victim.

Children learn what they see. We have a lot of bullies in this country. We have bullies in the home who commit violence against their own family members. We have teachers who bully children by punishing them unfairly. We have bullies in public and private offices who feel that because of the power of their positions they can do as they please. There are bullies all around. It should therefore not be strange that one in every ten children, at some time or the other, is going to be bullied.

Recently, an 11-year-old boy was allegedly bullied and had his rag taken away by an older child. It is said that the younger child ran behind the older child in order to retrieve his rag but the older child allegedly slammed a gate in to his head, resulting in injuries and subsequently death.

This is not the first of such a tragic incident. A few years ago, a child was allegedly kicked in the stomach and died.

We cannot continue in this vain. In Guyana there are so many problems that it is time we pick a few of them and address this comprehensively so that they are eradicated. Bullying is one such problem which needs to be addressed and brought to an end.

There are lots of bullies within our school system. What is to be done with them? The PPP/C government once had a policy of no child being left behind. Bullies who were dunces – and most of them in the past were dunces – under that system were entitled to promotion, regardless of how poorly they did in examinations. They had an automatic pass.

When the APNU+AFC came in, it adopted another policy. It said every child must be in school. This gives a right to education to bullies. Before anyone gets the wrong impression, there are also bullies in private schools. Some of them are rich, spoilt kids who feel that because their parents have money they can do as they please.

The private schools have a way of dealing with bullies. They expel them. And the public schools had to take them in, because there was a policy of every child in school. The public schools have their own way of dealing with bullies. They deal with them by transferring them to another school. This is passing the buck and passing the problem on. It means that the bully is free to prey on others in the new school to which he or she is assigned.

For the record, there are both boy bullies and girl bullies, and you would be surprised who are the more vicious.

But bullies also have rights, especially if they are children. They need help. Bullies need as much help as their victims. Disciplining them or transferring them to another school is not the solution. It has never been the answer.

Bullies need medical care by trained psychologists. We do not have the number of psychologists in Guyana to deal with bullying in our schools.

It must not take the death of a child to remind us that in every two classrooms we can expect to find one bully. Perhaps one is sitting right now next to your child.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 21st, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

COME MAKE YOUR CASE: CWI president Shallow urges BCA, GCB to use special meeting to voice concerns as decision on governance reform inevitable

COME MAKE YOUR CASE: CWI president Shallow urges BCA, GCB to use...

Jan 22, 2025

SportsMax – Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow has emphasized that a special meeting scheduled for next month represents a critical opportunity for the Barbados Cricket...
Read More
CANOC President calls for Caribbean boxing officials to ‘take action’

CANOC President calls for Caribbean boxing...

Jan 22, 2025

New West Cricket Club of Canada to tour Guyana for three matches

New West Cricket Club of Canada to tour Guyana...

Jan 22, 2025

Chung cops Gold as National Indoor Recurve Archery Open 

Chung cops Gold as National Indoor Recurve...

Jan 22, 2025

Guyana Junior hockey teams to contest PAHF Jr Challenge in Barbados

Guyana Junior hockey teams to contest PAHF Jr...

Jan 22, 2025

Play in the BCB/Dr Amarnauth Dukhi U15 One-Day two innings Inter club competition continues

Play in the BCB/Dr Amarnauth Dukhi U15 One-Day...

Jan 22, 2025

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]