Searches for "school bullying" in South Africa jumped 202% in the week pupils returned for term three, new data shows - a spike experts say reflects real parental anxiety in a country where roughly four in ten pupils have experienced cyberbullying.
Searches for “school bullying” spiked as South African pupils returned to class for the third term. Picture: iStock
As South African schools reopened for the third term on 21 July, online searches for “school bullying” surged 202% in a single week – a spike researchers say reflects a wave of parental anxiety as children head back into the classroom.
New analysis by Teneo Online School of search-trends data shows that interest in “school bullying” stayed flat through the winter break, then climbed sharply from the weekend before the school term restarted, peaking in the days after pupils returned on Tuesday, 21 July.
Searches rose 202% over the week, reaching around 1 000 for the month.
Researchers note that the timing is telling: the surge lines up almost exactly with the return to school, suggesting that for many families, a new term brings the question of bullying back to the front of parents’ minds.
Back to school, back to worry
For a child being bullied, the report notes, the end of a school holiday isn’t simply the end of a break, it can mean the return of a daily ordeal.
The sharp rise in searches as the school term begins suggests many parents are anticipating exactly that, and are looking for guidance before or as their children walk back through the school gates.
The concern is well-founded. Research from the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention has found that around four in 10 South African students have experienced some form of cyberbullying during their school careers. Research by Camryn Twaddle and Daniel le Roux on the prevalence and correlates of cyberbullying among South African adolescents found that 67% of South African teenagers have witnessed cyberbullying even when they weren’t directly targeted, showing its effects reach well beyond the pupils it’s aimed at.
Traditional, in-person bullying also remains widespread. A nationally representative study of more than 7 000 primary schoolchildren found that between 22% and 33% reported being physically hit by other children, while in some provinces close to four in 10 reported being deliberately excluded by peers.
The problem that follows children home
What has changed, according to the report, is that bullying no longer ends at the school gate. Where it was once confined to school hours, smartphones and social media now allow harassment to continue into the evening, over weekends and through school holidays, often in spaces parents can’t see.
That shift may help explain why the start of term is such a flashpoint: for many children, going back to school also means returning to the environment where online and offline bullying intersect.
South African and international research links cyberbullying to serious harm to young people’s mental health, including anxiety, depression and, in the most severe cases, suicidal behaviour, which is why specialists increasingly stress early, open conversation over silence.
What parents can do as term begins
Taryn Jankes, chief marketing officer at Teneo Online School, said the timing of the search spike reflects something familiar to most parents.
“The start of term can be a moment of real anxiety, not just excitement. For a child who is being bullied, the holidays end, and the dread begins again,” she said.
Jankes said the most effective response is early, honest conversation.
“The most powerful thing any parent or school can do at this point in the calendar is open the conversation early, ask how a child really feels about going back, and make it safe for them to be honest,” she said, adding that bullying “depends on a child’s silence”.
She also noted that whatever the setting – a physical school or an online classroom – the priorities at the start of a new term remain the same: clear reporting routes children trust, adults who watch for warning signs, and a culture where speaking up is met with support rather than dismissal.
If you or a young person you know is struggling with bullying or its effects, Childline South Africa can be reached toll-free on 116, and the SADAG Mental Health Line is available on 0800 456 789 or via SMS at 31393.
