Parents, school, and community must unite to tackle bullying

Parents need to get involved in their children’s daily school activities and attend school meetings to fight bullying at local schools.

This is the message from ex-offender Phakedi ‘Bra Liefie’ Tsiane, founder of #Operation Lukisa Sgela.

According to him, this will help parents understand their children’s behaviour and identify the four most common types of bullying in schools.

“Bullying comes in many ways, including verbal, physical, peer pressure, and cyberbullying,” said Bra Liefie.

He said his organisation visits schools, and that the schools are doing everything in their power to combat bullying by involving the local organisations, social workers, and law enforcement.

But, he warns, parents are the ones who are failing the system.

“Bullying does not only affect learners; the teachers are also victims of bullying. It is crucial for parents to come on board,” he said.

He added that one problem he faces is that when some parents are called to school after an incident where their child has bullied another person, they will not accept responsibility.

Instead, they immediately take their child’s side and accuse the school of lying. This leads to their child believing that bullying is acceptable.

He continued, saying that bullying starts at home, and that learners then bring it to school, generally when parents do not address the behaviour.

Another part of the problem he finds is that the parents are bullies themselves and are fighting in front of their children.

He says that yet another part of the problem is drug and alcohol abuse, which can be compounded by parents buying alcohol or vapes for their children, possibly causing the children to move on to other drugs.

According to him, these are all parts of the problem, and parents need to be educated about them and join the fight against bullying.

Ultimately, to win this fight, everyone needs to come on board – parents, teachers, social workers, local organisations, government departments, and police.

Mamelodi police spokesperson, Sergeant Daphney Maila, said almost every school in Mamelodi is battling the issue of bullying.

“The police have school programmes whereby we visit schools and talk about crime [and] bullying, including substance and drug abuse,” said Maila.

The school programmes include representatives from different stakeholders, and encourages learners to break the silence and report crime.

“We believe there are learners who can change their lives, but parents need to play their part in the fight against bullying,” said Maila.

She said that just because your child is not a victim of bullying does not mean you should not get involved, that everyone is needed to win this fight.

“Bullying, drugs, and dangerous weapons [are] not allowed on school premises, and we encourage learners to inform their teacher of bullying at school,” she added.

She concluded that the fight against bullying is far from over, but we can win it if we come together as one.

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