Bullying is common among students inadolescence. To see its prevalence, PGI has done a new study. The studyfound that one in four students studying in government schools is a victim ofit. This research has been done on 667 students of 9 to 15 years (6th to10th class), which includes 359 students studying in government schools and 308students studying in private schools.
According to a new study by PGI Chandigarh,bullying encourages the tendency of students to commit suicide. Refusing toplay, they begin to develop suicidal tendencies.
Olvius Bully/Victim Quotient (OB/VQ) has beenused in this. Emotional, self-esteem and temperament problems weremeasured in students using parameters such as the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale,Strengths and Difficulties Quotationary.
For doctors, the results of this researchwere very surprising because 26.5% (16% of abuses, 5.2% of crimes and 4.3% ofbully victims) in school were victims of different types of bullying. Ofthese, verbal bullying was the most common with 55.1%, 32.7% physical, and25.2% relational bullying and 2.7% being cyberbullying. At the same time,44% said that the adults present in the school did nothing to stop thebullying.
According to Dr. Madhu Gupta, Professor inthe Department of Community Medicine, PGI, one of the authors of the study,students are prone to suicide due to bullying that occurs during studies inschools, parks and even online classes.
Although, there are many interventionprograms in South East Asian countries to stop bullying, but, not inIndia. That's why we have designed Stop Bullying-School InterventionProgram (SB-SIP) for school students. The program will be taught in powerpoint presentations and bilingual. He told that as soon as the schoolopens, it will start in the school after meeting with the concerned authoritiesand the principals of the school.
According to Dr. Madhu Gupta, it will beoperated at 3 levels which include individual (students), relationship (parentsand teachers) and school level. Its objective is to increase the knowledgeof students about bullying behavior and victimization, its effects and enhancetheir skills to avoid it.
1. Theparent module will have bullying awareness sessions and strategies on how tomanage your child who is a victim of bullying.
2. Theteachers’ module will have sessions on safe classroom environment, how torespond to bullying rumors and how to stop bullying on the spot.
3. Schoollevel strategy will be given to the school administrators who will besensitized to the problems related to bullying. An Anti-Bullying Committee willbe set up to introduce the school rules against bullying.