Authorities must send strong message against bullying in schools

Recent reports of a former Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) student suing the school for failing to protect her from being bullied raise the issue of the responsibilities of schools in bullying incidences involving their students and how effective educators in Singapore are in tackling bullying in schools.

Bullying should never be dismissed as “part-and-parcel of growing up” or “kids just being kids.” Its detrimental effects and psychological damage which can be long-lasting through adulthood are well-documented in research.

One study by King’s College London published in the American Journal of Psychiatry last year showed that study participants who were bullied in childhood had increased levels of psychological distress at ages 23 and 50, with victims of frequent bullying having higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality than their non-victimised peers.

School bullying incidences in Singapore are not widely reported in the press but it does not mean it is any less rampant. A Touch Cyber Wellness survey released last year showed that one in three secondary school students and one in five primary school pupils have been victims of cyberbullying. A 2012 study by Microsoft also showed that Singapore had the second-highest rate of online bullying globally.

Singapore moved in the right direction when it introduced the Protection from Harassment Act last year which covers school bullying. Still, more should be done at the school level to send the message that bullying will not be condoned. Schools owe a duty of care to their students and it would be ethically unacceptable for a school to abdicate and deny responsibility for the safety of their students.

As parents we need to teach our children to stand up against bullies, but what happens when our child are ganged-up against by many or become victimised for standing up for themselves? When the bullying continues despite a child’s best efforts, school authorities should step in.

The Ministry of Education should share what anti-bullying policies are in place in schools. How effective are they and how is their effectiveness measured? What training do teachers have in dealing with bullying? Have policy-makers in Singapore done research on effective bullying prevention programmes? Finland has a research-based anti-bullying programme called KiVa and in the United States has the Olweus bullying prevention programme. However, the adoption of these reputed programmes or similar should be further studied for effectiveness and suitability in schools here.

Ineffective management of bullying cases and allowing bullies to go scot-free will result in our society raising children who grow up to become bullies amd harassers in the workplace.

If the authorities support schools who fail in their duty of care, then it is akin to saying that bullying is acceptable and its impact on our children’s long-term psychological well-being inconsequential. I hope the RGS case will spur schools into look seriously into their anti-bullying policies and adopt effective bullying prevention programmes.