Pupil loses hearing after violent assault

A violent assault has left a local pupil with partial hearing, afraid to return to school.
The 15-year-old pupil was allegedly first attacked outside the Dolphin Coast school on February 11.
He told the parents that the school’s security guard intervened and promised to sort the problem out the next day. In a statement his parents said he was provoked again the following day, during both break times.
“When he approached the office for help he was told the principal is in a very important meeting and cannot be disturbed. He reached out to a teacher and was sent to the security guard.”
That afternoon a group of about 30 boys followed the pupil out of the school, beating him so severely that he has lost hearing in his right ear.
“He can now hear slightly but we will only know in two weeks’ time if he has lost his hearing completely. He is afraid to go back to school and we are looking for an alternative.”
The pupil’s name is known to the Courier but is not being published for fear of further victimisation.
Numerous attempts to contact the school’s principal were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.
Ballito-based clinical psychologist Nikki Simons and intern counselling psychologist Dominique Garnett said bullying is a form of violence that must be taken seriously.
“We now know that the psychological harm from bullying continues into adult life and can have the same long-term psychological effects as child abuse. Bullying is understood as being an abuse of power, an action that is planned, calculated, intended to hurt and repeated over and over again.”
Simons and Garnett said bullies feed on fear, which can grow when bullying is kept hidden – for this reason it must be exposed.
“For parents it can be very frightening to know that our children face the prospect of being bullied at school and can leave us feeling just as vulnerable and helpless as they do. Many believe that the best way in which we can protect our children is through building a good self-esteem, which is done through love, affection and encouragement.”
Below are some tips to deal with bullying from Simons and Garnett:
What can I do if I am being bullied?
Tell an adult you can trust and this can even be done in the form of a letter or email
Do not blame yourself and feel that you have done anything wrong – often victims of bullying feel like this.
Be assertive, not aggressive. It is okay to stand up for yourself. Say in a loud, strong, confident voice: “Stop, leave me alone”.
What to do if your child is being bullied:
Empower your child to stand up to the bully in an assertive (not aggressive) way. This is important as you can further disempower your child by rushing to his/her defence too quickly thereby reinforcing their feelings of weakness.
If that does not work, encourage your child to report the bullying to a teacher.
Encourage your children to stand up for others if they see someone else being bullied. We all have a responsibility to speak out if we are aware it is happening to someone else.
What to do if you catch your child bullying another child:
Just as you may feel strongly about your child being a victim, so too should we react strongly if we find out our own children are bullies.
Bullying can be in the form of bad-mouthing friends and parents need to be mindful of how you speak of others, the school, teachers and our children’s friends
Find the support that you and your child may need to rectify the situation and to learn better social skills.
What can schools/society do to prevent bullying:
Build an anti-bullying policy into the school’s code of conduct as in this way what is termed as bullying as well as the consequences of such actions are clearly laid out for pupils, teachers and parents.
Encourage reporting of bullying and provide a bullying box for anonymous reports.
We do need to remember that the victim needs to be treated with compassion and not further victimised.