The official number of bullying cases in schools has increased by almost a third in Romania, but Save the Children says the phenomenon is actually much worse and calls for the establishment of anti-bullying groups in schools.

According to official data quoted by the non-profit, the number of reported cases of bullying in schools increased by almost a third in the 2021-2022 school year compared to the previous school year (10,971 cases of bullying found, against 7,715).

In reality, however, the phenomenon is much more serious: the recent analysis of the Save the Children Organization (end of 2022) shows that bullying in school or the classroom and its perpetuation in the online environment affects emotionally hundreds of thousands of students year after year. They become victims of situations of physical violence and threats or humiliating messages sent online (49%), assist as witnesses (82%) or admit to having committed such acts themselves (27%).

“Considering that anti-bullying action groups represent the best way to limit the phenomenon of violence between students in school premises, Save the Children asks the Ministry of Education for an evaluation of the state of implementation of the Methodological Norms regarding the establishment of these groups and the development of a national strategy to fully comply with the legal provisions,” the NGO said.

According to Save the Children, bullying mainly happens due to a lack of interest from the education system to develop a strategy and an action plan to prevent and combat bullying and cyberbullying, starting from the legal regulations in force regarding this phenomenon which is in a worrying progression. The non-profit believes every school should have an anti-bullying action group tasked with preventing, identifying and solving bullying situations between students, through physical, verbal, relational and/or cyber actions.

“An improvement in the educational climate has been observed in schools where there is a functional anti-bullying action group, which translates into a better collaboration between teachers and parents, which means that students receive the same message at school and at home. They feel supported to become more tolerant and turn more confidently to adults when they encounter difficult situations,” Save the Children Romania explained.

In 2022, within the “Schools without bullying” program, Save the Children organized information and training sessions for 800 teachers from 138 schools on the application of educational methods based on positive discipline and the implementation of anti-bullying methodological norms. 947 parents and 5,626 children (of which almost 800 became anti-bullying ambassadors in their schools) were involved in these information and prevention activities.

Thus, Save the Children facilitated the establishment and operation of the anti-bullying action group in 80 partner schools, and the process is being implemented in 58 others.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Save the Children Romania)