The emotional and physical pain brought on by bullying can be
excruciating, yet this behaviour continues to abound in schools
globally, according to a new report by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that is calling for
all children to have access to a "safe, inclusive” learning
environment.
UNESCO’s report, Behind the numbers: ending
school violence and bullying, released on Tuesday at the 2019
Education World Forum in London, reveals that nearly one-in-three
boys and girls have been bullied at least once at school over the
last month, and a similar proportion have been affected by
physical violence.
Overall, says the report, physical bullying is the biggest
problem in most regions, but in North America and Europe,
psychological bullying is the most common, followed by
sexually-related bullying.
Online and smartphone bullying on the rise
Physical bullying is more common among boys, while psychological
bullying is more prevalent among girls. Meanwhile, online and
mobile phone bullying is on the rise. Children perceived as
different in any way from the norm, are the most likely to be
bullied, with physical appearance being the most common cause
followed by race, nationality or skin colour.
Bullying must be addressed because it significantly effects
children’s mental health, quality of life and academic
achievement, the report states.
Frequently bullied children are nearly three times more likely to
feel shunned and more than twice as likely to miss school. Their
educational-outcomes decline, and they are more likely to leave
after finishing secondary school.
Not all bad, some progress made
Despite the gravity of the problem, some countries
have made significant progress towards reducing, or
containing, school violence and bullying.
"We are greatly encouraged that nearly half of
countries with available data have decreased rates of
school violence and bullying” said Stefania Giannini,
UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education.
“This proves that through a combination of strong
political leadership and other factors such as
training, collaboration, reporting and monitoring, we
can alleviate the climate of fear created by school
bullying and violence.”
The UNESCO report is one of the UN educational
agency’s contributions to the ‘Safe to Learn’
campaign, an initiative focused on ending violence in
schools, so children can learn, thrive and pursue
their dreams.
It brings together data from a range of global and
regional surveys, covering 144 countries and
territories in all regions, yielding the most
up-to-date and comprehensive evidence on school
violence and bullying.
“All children and young people have the right to
safe, inclusive and effective learning environments",
concluded Ms. Giannini.
