Stop Bullying in Irish Schools

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Friday July 15, 2005 13:51

by Justin Morahan - Peace People

If we hold our peace the stones will cry out

"Make no mistake, if your child is at school in Ireland he or she is in the middle of a monstrous bullying culture"

Now that school holidays are here and bullied students who for months couldn't sleep o'nights may now (or may not) be able to take a welcome break from hell, it may be a good time to shout out that bullying in Irish schools must stop.

All of us showed indifference in the past to many elements of our society where people were bullied. People were sent to hell and told to make the best of it. In some cases, efforts have recently been made to uncover and to some extent repair the injury suffered. Institutions have been closed down, people prosecuted and jailed, money paid out. This is not to say that wrongdoing has been rectified or that the people who so suffered should be happy. At least the problem has been recognised and something done to prevent it .

But schools remain standing. Schools where young innocent children are tormented day in, day out, in a culture where bullying is tolerated. The teachers often don't know about it. Children believe that it's either wrong or unpopular or (more often) downright dangerous to rat on fellow students who act the feudal lords over their lives. Principals tell the assembled students that "Bullying will not be tolerated here" or "this is a non-bullying school". This will bring a hushed silence in a classroom or at an assembly. But the bullies know it as a lie. They know that no matter how often these words are spoken, there will be no follow-up. They will get away with it. Although nearly 31% of children attending primary schools and 16% of students in Irish secondary schools are bullied (according to Dr Mona O'Moore of the Anti-Bullying Centre in Trinity College), some Principals and some teachers will still tell you with a straight face "At least we're blessed here in one thing - we have no bullying"! What they really should be saying is that there is no serious method of uncovering the extent of bullying in the school and no serious system of dealing with the enormous amount of work that would be involved if the bullying were uncovered.

Meanwhile some poor little innocents say goodbye to Daddy or Mammy at a school door to begin a phase of life for which they have no preparation whatever. Bullying is insidious, can be secretive, can be terrifying. A boy or girl can go home and cry himself or herself to sleep, night after night. Some parents expect them to "toughen up". Some parents try to help. Some never know. If the school is helpless to make a change, the bullying becomes more terrifying. Some children have taken their own lives.

I have tried to put a system in place to prevent bullying in secondary schools in Ireland. It is "the Box and Interview Method".
I have described it fully in my website at http://homepage.tinet.ie/%7Ejustinmorahan/bullying
I would like people to use it as much as possible