violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

Schools, that are supposed to be “places of learning, turned out to be a nightmare because there isviolence and it is unbearable.”Child, Eastern and Southern Africa, 2005 VII4mainly girls or children from ethnic minorities.77 A study among primary school studentsin the fourth grade in the Republic of Koreaconcluded that bullying is common in schoolsand arises from social conditions and bullies’emotional problems. 78 Reports from SouthAsia indicated severe discrimination in theclassroom, amounting to abuse and exclusion,against children from minorities or low castes.A consultation on violence in schools heldthrough UNICEF’s Voices of Youth forumalso confirmed the widespread experience ofbullying in schools in the Middle East andNorth Africa, and led to calls from childrento stop it. 79The most common forms of bullying areverbal and, if left unchecked, verbal bullyingcan lead to extreme violence. Some of therecent impetus for studies of bullying camefrom the notorious school shootings in theUSA and Canada during the late 1990s. Oneinvestigation found that an inability to copewith social ridicule and personal rejectionmay have fuelled those outbursts. 80 A study inIsrael found that bullies’ feelings of suffering,humiliation and anger often explain why theymove from verbal to physical violence. 81The Internet and mobile phones have providednew opportunities for bullying throughe-mails, online chat lines, personal web pages,text messages, and transmission of images. 82,83A survey of students in Canada found thatboys confessed to cyber-bullying more oftenthan girls, and were also more frequently thevictims of cyber-bullying. 84 Unique aspects ofcyber-bullying are that it allows perpetratorsto remain anonymous, it allows for quick distributionand replication of messages, and itcan turn masses of children into bystanders orwitnesses of non-physical bullying of a highlymalicious nature as perpetrators hide behindtheir anonymity.How schools fail to discourage bullyingStrong leadership, an ethos of caring, andclear and consistently enforced policies canreduce the incidence and severity of violencein schools of all kinds and even prevent it fromhappening. Unfortunately, most schools applyquick-fix solutions or deal with the problemsuperficially. They may expel perpetratorsrather than attempt to change their behaviour,which only transfers the problem to anotherschool or the wider community. They mayinclude anti-violence material in non-compulsorycourses or ad hoc lessons, but it is usuallyinsufficient to impart the knowledge and skillsteachers and students need to understand andprevent violence. 85School bullying usually occurs when no teachersare present and when student bystandersneither intervene nor inform teachers or otherschool staff. A Canadian study found that in57% of cases where bystanders intervened thebullying stopped. 86 North American childrenparticipating in Children’s Forums held as partof this Study suggested turning bystanders intodefenders through peer support schemes.Fighting, physical assault, and gangsFighting generally involves conflict generallinvolves two or more people where it is not easyto make distinctions between perpetrators and123Violence against children in schools and educational settings