Image of the Maryland Anti Bullying Assembly (United States)When a school omits the duty of protection to a student who is being harassed, the parents have the legal way to file a complaint. We have known thanks to Anti Bullying that "at least 40 schools in Spain have been tried for avoiding such cases."
It seems that for many centers it is easier to isolate the harassed student (that is, the victim) than to address the resolution of the problem, probably to prevent the problem from seeing the light. However, let's look at it in another way: The school is the Institution that not only transmits knowledge to children, but must be considered obliged to take care of our children while they remain in their facilitiesIsn't it enforceable that the kids maintain their physical, psychological and moral integrity while in the classroom? I have no doubt that there are many schools with an implicit and explicit policy of rejection of violence, and that they know the repercussions that harassment has for the future of those involved, as well as the need for a social coexistence from parameters acceptable to all.
There are others who 'look the other way' while in the courtyards, halls and classrooms dozens of children are violent and humiliated, but the social sensitivity increases, and if there are no more complaints, it is because of the high cost of justice
Araceli Oñate is an expert on the subject (and co-author of the Cisneros report on Bullying and School Violence), she does not hesitate to state that in 99% of cases are the harassed child who leaves the school. Let's stop at this figure: it is the victim who must abandon his usual means, in favor of the stalkers who can continue to roam freely.
Do we correct inappropriate behaviors at school?
However, I must agree with Araceli when he warns that bullying children who are not corrected in time, become true predators in the future.
Unfortunately, many adults still think that the reactions of worried parents because a child is beaten or insulted in school are exaggerated. As if it were normal! Can you imagine the same scene but in the street with children, women, old people ...? Is it really not worrisome to imagine children of eight, eleven, thirteen unprotected years within the walls of the school?
Well, many of us are closely aware of cases, and we know that in a high percentage of occasions, parents end up changing their schoolchild, although from a distance they continue to press the institutions involved to try to prevent them from becoming in the future to repeat the same situations.
When Jokin rushed into the void from the wall of Hondarribia, our blood froze. Unfortunately, there are few occasions when society does not react until an irreversible dramatic event occurs. That day of 2004 things began to change slowly, for the family of that teenager who had a lifetime ahead of life life will never be the same. But if collective awareness increases we can do a lot to change the increase in cases of violence in the classroom (That in Toledo the problem is occurring in 50% of the students is to stop and reflect).
Suicide is the most extreme manifestation of helplessness that a child subjected to bullying can suffer, we saw it in the case of Amanda Todd. It also leaves its mark on the Educational Community that takes action on the matter when the cases occur.
One of the schools denounced (and that has had to pay compensation to the family of a student), is Love of God. To avoid further problems in the future, a plan for the early detection of bullying has been implemented in the 23 educational centers of the congregation
We can think that have acted responsibly even a posteriori. So do municipalities, schools and other institutions, when they develop actions aimed at prevention. An example of this is the cooperative learning programs developed in Extremadura.
All children need to be heard when they suffer at school, and on the other hand there are ways to know that they are being harassed even if they dare not tell. The family has an important role in this matter, but the school also, since the parents delegate the education in and the care of the children in the schools.
Times have changed and society has been modernized, however in the perception and social awareness we have towards bullying sometimes it is not noticeable. We still accept comments such as 'they are children's things', 'this also happened in my time and we were not traumatized', etc., these denote (at least) a tremendous lack of respect for childhood, and a very low level of empathy towards a Social problem as serious as this.
The episodes of bullying increase and not only in Spain: Mexico, Peru and other countries around the world suffer from this incompatibility with an advanced society, we can no longer remain impassive.
