Cape Town - Since March the 1 000 Women Trust, said that they have received an influx of bullying complaints.
The anti-bullying campaign which started in 2019 is an awareness campaign aimed at resolving bullying in schools at its root cause.
Trustee at the anti-bullying programme Tina Thiart said that schools are not equipped to handle bullying, as a result several parents and teachers have reached out to the organisation for the trauma training workshop.
“This year in March we had a number of teachers and parents contacting us for trauma training. We train teachers and parents to handle bullying situations and trauma effectively and implement the training into school systems.”
She said there were a lot of complaints after they started followed by a lull last year and they now saw an increase since March.
The training which used to be a physical class, is now conducted through WhatsApp due to covid-19 regulations.Thiart emphasised the importance of trauma training as a solution in schools because it addresses the causes of bullying,opposed to reactionary methods.
“Bullies are usually victims to violence themselves, at home or in other spaces. The perpetrators are victims too and need help. We facilitate how to deal with both the bully and the child being bullied.”
According to the anti-bullying campaign roughly 57% of South African pupils have been bullied at some time during their high-school career, considering that 2.2 million of the South African population are school-going children, the rate of bullying high.
Bullying was brought back into the spot light last month, following the suicide of Limpopo pupil Lufuno Mavhunga. The student who was said to have been bullied for months, took her own life after a video of her assault circulated on social media.
Bullying comes in all forms and levels of aggression; physical, verbal, social and cyber bullying. Repeated acts of intimidation, abuse and violence in schools can lead to anxiety depression and even suicide.
The anti-bullying campaign is urging all institutions of learning to implement anti-bullying policies, along with educating students on the harm of bullying.
Weekend Argus