Victims of bullies must speak up

AN ANTI-BULLYING activist is urging scholars to speak out about violence.

A dramatic video has been doing the social media rounds this week showing young pupils at the Verulam Secondary School in an altercation.

The video footage, posted publicly on Facebook last week, shows a girl slapping another outside the school, followed by threats.

The apparent bully in the video said: “You know what I did to you the last time – you landed in hospital.”

Jeeten Jaganath, of SBA Security in Verulam, confirmed the incident happened last year but only surfaced online recently.

“As a concerned parent of a child at the school, I discussed the incident with officials, who confirmed that the intimidating pupil’s parent had been contacted and the pupil transferred to another school,” said Jaganath.

Anti-bullying activist Sandhir Sewmungal, who has detailed personal accounts of being bullied at school in the book, The Unknown Journey, said: “Victims must not feel afraid to speak to anyone because talking to someone if they are being bullied does help. Report the incident to a teacher, a prefect and the principal so the school can address the issue.”

Sewmungal advised pupils to contact anti-bullying groups.

He also condemned bystanders for not taking action. “Pupils shouldn’t even be taking a video of pupils fighting; they should instead report it to the authorities,” he said.

Neither the school nor the Education Department was available for comment.