School bullying rife in Western Cape

File picture: Daylin Paul/Independent Media Archives

File picture: Daylin Paul/Independent Media Archives

Published May 4, 2019

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Cape Town - Although the Western Cape department of education has declared a zero-tolerance stance on bullying at schools, it remains a serious issue around the province.

A recent study showed South Africa is rated second in the world with the highest incidence of cyber-bullying.

Cyberbullying is defined as when a child or group of children, under the age of 18, intentionally intimidate, offend, threaten or embarrass another child or group of children, specifically using information technology.

An awareness campaign against bullying in all forms has been launched by the 1 000 Women Trust in the build-up to the 1 000 Women 1 Voice flagship fundraising luncheon that

will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Thursday.

According to the organisers, this event will bring together 1 000 women in unity as ambassadors against violence against women and girls.

At a school safety summit held in Boksburg last month, Deputy Minister of Police Bongani Mkhongi said the banning of corporal punishment should be reviewed.

The summit, held under the theme “Safer schools to support learning and teaching” was an attempt at addressing the escalating break-ins, gangsterism, bullying and violence against teachers at schools.

A Grade 10 pupil at a Gugulethu high school spoke to Weekend Argus about his traumatic experience.

“At first they would call me names, I would ignore them and just pretend not to hear anything.

“Then they started to push me around and force me to do things for them like going to the shop or carrying their books or hitting other children in lower grades.

“Then they started to hit me, until one day I got home with a broken arm and I had to tell my parents,” said the boy.

The Western Cape education department’s Jessica Shelver said

many cases of bullying go unreported and the department is unable to

intervene.

“It is therefore so important to run advocacy and awareness campaigns such as this, regarding the dangers of bullying, and how to combat it,” she said.

Shelver added: “It is important to remember that the bully often comes from a background where there is insecurity, little parent involvement, and inconsistency in actions of parents.”

The boy has since been moved to a different school where he says he has not been bullied this year.

The Anti-Bullying Campaign will be launched at schools throughout the country.

According to the campaign’s Tina Thiart, it is reported that as many as 57% of South African pupils have been bullied at some time during their high-school careers.

“When one considers that we have 2.2 million school-going children in this country, those percentages translate into truly staggering numbers,” said Thiart.

“This is alarming and 1 000 Women Trust has decided to create awareness and help women and girls to find their own solutions to the problem of bullying in our communities.”

Weekend Argus

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