Bullying videos ‘cause more pain’

This according to education expert Graeme Bloch, who spoke to The Citizen about the recent spate of bullying videos captured in Gauteng schools.

“This is a mordernised world, so learners have access to the internet which makes it easy for them to capture such incidents on cellphones and upload them to the internet,” he said.

Bloch added bullying in South African schools was prevalent and usually stemmed from young people having a low self-esteem and that learners who participated in it needed help and support.

“Bullying in schools is unacceptable and should be stopped by parents and teachers. It is hateful and expresses violence,” he added. Earlier this week a grade 7 learner was suspended after he attacked another learner in an apparent bullying incident captured on cellphone at Laerskool Randfontein on the West Rand.

Meanwhile in the north of Pretoria, cellphone footage surfaced showing two school girls fighting in another alleged bullying incident at Derdepoort Primary School. In the video allegedly captured by a pupil at the school, the two girls can be seen arguing before physically attacking each other.

The victim’s mother said: “It was heartbreaking. No parent should ever go through something like this.”

According to a 2014 paper on school bullying by academics Clever Ndebele and Dudu Msiza, the main driving force behind bullying is the negative attitudes and hatred towards victims by the bullies.

“Anger and jealousy also seem to be the other main drivers of bully behaviour. Other identified signals of bully behaviour in the learners’ responses included little fights and rough playing, seeking to be famous, witnessing parents fight at home and seeking love and acceptance,” the paper suggests.

The provincial education department has since strongly condemned these incidents and made assurances that they would deal with the issue. Department spokesperson Phumla Sekhonyane said capacity building and staff development programmes were in place to empower educators to assist learners with various matters, including bullying and drug abuse.

“We are also providing healthy lifestyle alternatives to the youth through school enrichment programmes, enabling officials, educators and learners to minimise the increase of violence, bullying and drugs…The department further conducts advocacy and awareness programmes,” she said.

– Caxton News Service