Students seek anti-bullying programmes
It can make kids feel hurt, scared, sick, lonely and embarrassed. If any one bullies during school hours, the way out is to tell an adult or teacher ...and tell the bully to stop.” Amena Mohammed Bakir, student, GEMS Our Own English High School
An important step towards standing up to bullies is maintaining eye contact. If you break eye contact or look away, you have handed over the power to the person you are being bullied by.” Dia Menon, student, Sharjah-based
Students should feel confident in reporting bullies to their parents and school authorities — this is the message from other UAE pupils to kids who may be victims of bullying.
Khaleej Times asked students how they would respond to bullying, and many responses encouraged victims not to feel guilty and report any incidents to authority figures.
One student, Himanshee Bhargava from GEMS Our Own English High School in Sharjah, said schools should organise more anti-bullying programmes to help with the issue.
“Although, I have never personally experienced ‘bullying’, it has become quite recurrent in and outside the school premises,” she said. “Students use physical, verbal, emotional or online pranks to torment their peers.
“At times, neglected or over pampered children too indulge in such offence. To overcome such nasty behavior, schools should organise awareness programmes on discouraging bullying by making such incidents punishable and making students realise on the severity of consequences it has on the vulnerable. Students at this age should be taught to empathise with each other to evolve into better human beings.”
Amena Mohammed Bakir, another student at the GEMS Our Own English High School, said bullying is a “big problem” and can leave youngsters with many emotional scars.
“It can make kids feel hurt, scared, sick, lonely and embarrassed. If any one bullies during school hours, the way out is to tell an adult or teacher to stick up for the kid being bullied and tell the bully to stop,” she said.
“No one is perfect. You are good how you are, so ask someone whom you trust. Friendship also helps to fight bullying and to deal with bullying after school hours. The following steps can be taken – ignore the bully and, if you can, try your best to ignore the bully’s threats. “
A student in Sharjah, Dia Menon, believes that a victim should “maintain eye contact” with bullies.
“Bullying is a highly talked about subject but the awareness of how to deal with it is not familiar. An important step towards standing up to bullies is maintaining eye contact. If you break eye contact or look away, you have handed over the power to the person you are being bullied by,” she said. “If it continues, seek support from your school counselor, teachers or any adult. Also, avoid frequenting areas in the school that are less supervised. Cyber bullying is very common and can be avoided by informing your parents. In case you are getting messages from unwanted people it is important to block them online.”