Standing up to bullying behaviour in school

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100120/opinion/editorialullying

Bullying is a fact of life in schools. But a recent, unusually serious incident in a Gozo secondary school, over which two girls are being charged with defiling a fellow student, put an uncomfortable spotlight on the phenomenon. The case was being probed by the education authorities and the victim has received counselling.
Bullying may have major effects on its victims, from a devastating lack of self-confidence that can last a lifetime to, in extreme cases, even suicide. Meanwhile, the worst perpetrators may go on to develop criminal tendencies.
A study involving thousands of students carried out about 15 years ago in state schools found that up to one in three children had experienced bullying, on the receiving end or as the aggressors. That statistic and its implications meant the issue needed to be taken seriously.
As indeed it was. Not too long after that study was published, the Ministry of Education issued a national policy and plan of action, outlining a set of procedures and measures that were to be followed by the Education Division and by schools. One of the fruits of that document was the setting up of a unit providing anti-bullying services, which has, hopefully, managed to bring down what can be considered as quite a high incidence.
One can't be sure of that, however. Not unless follow-up research using similar methodology to the 15-year-old study is undertaken. Given the number of young lives bullying can damage or ruin, it warrants no less. It would indicate whether the phenomenon is still as widespread, if the measures taken have been successful and if more resources need to be dedicated to the problem. Another question such a study should explore, given the technological advances of the last decade, is whether cyber-bullying - verbal and other forms of harassment via mobile phones or the internet - has become significant enough to require specific action. No doubt, its effects can be just as insidious as traditional forms of bullying.
Certainly, an important focus of any anti-bullying efforts should be the early years. Any work in primary classrooms and playgrounds probably goes much further than a similar amount expended in secondary schools because of the elements of prevention and "nipping it in the bud". One young child with bullying tendencies picked out and helped to change his/her ways early on would save misery for countless potential victims in the future. More effective by far than trying to deal with big bullies already set in their ways. One little picked-upon pupil taught to stand up to his tormentor by reporting him to a teacher is a small victory in the bid to instil a culture of no tolerance towards the phenomenon. For this is the only approach to take towards this abhorrent behaviour.
Parents have a vital role to play if they are educated to spot signs that their child is being subjected to constant humiliation in the school grounds. Parents of bullies are perhaps more difficult to bring aboard as denial, indifference or even, perversely, pride may prevent them from seeing what their child is doing as a problem and dealing with it.
And that's the nub. Bullying by other names is almost taken for granted in society, whether it's at the wheel of a car, inside the home, in sports, at the workplace or places of entertainment. Tackling it in school is a way to eventually reduce it among grown-ups.