Dubai, UAE: With the start of the new academic year this month, parents and schools have been advised by education specialists and psychologists to watch out for signs of bullying.
As a step towards fighting bullying, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) announced plans to implement a zero-tolerance policy in its new parent-school contract earlier this year.
Amal Bel Hasa, Chief of the Compliance and Resolution Commission at the KHDA, said that a big responsibility falls on parents and schools.
“Bullying can have serious long-term effects on the children involved. Schools and parents have a responsibility to prevent it from happening and to ensure its quick resolution. By issuing a set policy, parents and schools will have a greater understanding of how to identify and resolve the problem.”
Experts told Gulf News that teachers should take an active role in being aware of what is happening in the classroom.
Class dynamics
“Teachers need to be aware of class dynamics, which will hopefully help them in spotting instances of bullying and put a stop to it. For teachers the signs of bullying may be one or two individuals being picked on by a group of classmates, maybe for their appearance or intellectual capability,” said counselling psychologist at LifeWorks, Dr Lavina Ahuja.
Dr Saliha Afridi, clinical psychologist and managing director of The LightHouse Arabia Clinic, said: “Bullying starts in the home or school environments, if a child is a bully we need to take a closer look at how he/she is being parented and what his/her school environment promotes.”
According to specialists some of the negative effects of bullying are life-threatening.
“Bullying can lead to issues with self-confidence, low self-esteem, academic issues, relationship issues, low mood [depression], and anxiety, panic attacks, eating disorders, sleep issues and, in extreme cases, suicide,” said Dr Ahuja.
In order to deal with this issue Dr Afridi said: “Yes, individual/kids should be disciplined when bullying happens, but it is also about creating a larger culture of warmth, positivity, acceptance and encouragement.”
Gulf News spoke to some schools in Dubai to learn about what policies they impose when dealing with bullying.
Bully-free campus
“We take bullying very seriously and we consider ourselves a bully-free campus. The school has had several campaigns against bullying during which we spoke to students about what is bullying, its types and who they can go to if faced with this problem. We did this during our ethics class where we educated our students about the negativities of bullying,” said Winston Gomez, Principal of Ambassador School.
The principal said that the school conducted a survey to identify how many children had been bullied and by whom. The school then used the information and sat down with these bullies and spoke to them.
“Not only is the student bullied referred to the school counsellor but also the bully, in addition to disciplinary action we refer the bully to the counsellor in order to learn about the reasons that could have pushed him to act that way,” added Gomez.
Shalini Patrick, school counsellor of Al Diyafah High School, said the school follows a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying.
“Should there be an identified incident our remedial procedure begins with a warning followed by detention. As school counsellors, we believe that the bully needs help too… he is sending out this message with his behaviour. We therefore follow through by counselling both the student and their parents to identify and understand the root of the problem,”
The principal said that the school addresses the issue through different mediums, adding this year the awareness campaign focused on cyber-bullying.
“The internet is no longer a luxury for kids. It is now a necessity but unguided surfing on the internet is not safe. Children exploit this privilege in a manner that we cannot even imagine. So it’s equally important for you to get tech-savvy so you are aware of what they are doing.”
© Gulf News
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