The combating of bullying requires the involvement of the entire community, and involving students in extracurricular activities alongside teachers is important to strengthen the necessary relationship of trust and provide a higher degree of safety in the educational institution. “Together, without bullying” is the title of a campaign that aims to create a friendly school environment for students, to increase the awareness of the community and its involvement in ending bullying and its manifestations, IPN reports.
In the event to launch the campaign, Minister of Education and Research Dan Perciun said that the educational institution must be a safe space for all, where the wellbeing of both students and teachers prevails and, in principle, the phenomenon of bullying should not be present in educational institutions. “There are certain additional actions that we need to coordinate with civil society and have a common approach. First of all, we must decide among ourselves how we measure bullying,” the minister said, noting the need to approve a methodology to underpin all future research to measure the incidence of the phenomenon in Moldova.
Dan Perciun said that exposure to bullying has psychological effects and psychological support is surely important, with school psychologists playing a critical role. “We still have a shortage of school psychologists. So, everything that is done to increase the number of psychologists in the school will also lead, in my opinion, to reducing this phenomenon, but this is a more complicated, more time-consuming task than, for example, clarifying the measurement method, training and ensuring case reporting,” stated the minister.
Adrian Belyi, chairman of the Commission for Social Protection, Health and Family, said that Parliament will always support any initiative that will address the phenomenon of bullying and will contribute, within its powers and duties, to combating this phenomenon, especially through the legislative dimension or by conducting information campaigns, or by supporting civil society that will be directly involved in informing society, in training staff, in combating this phenomenon, in measuring it.
Daniela Mămăligă, head of the coordinating council of the Alliance of NGOs Active in the Field of Social Protection of Child and Family, said that through the campaign “Together, without bullying”, positive behaviors in creating a safe school environment for children are promoted. “We invite all interested organizations, development partners to join this campaign because we need to join our efforts. Schools, nongovernmental organizations, state institutions, the mass media, the general public should all unite to develop strategies, good practices, effective initiatives in promoting a change of attitude towards bullying,” noted Daniela Mămăligă.
MP Angela Munteanu-Pojoga, author of the antibullying law, said that we live in a society where violence is part of education and makes victims. “It is important, in my opinion, to create a partnership between family, parents and children and to launch as many campaigns of this kind as possible - campaigns that contribute to informing about what bullying means, about the consequences of this phenomenon,” stated the lawmaker.
Maha Damaj, UNICEF Moldova Country Representative, said bullying perpetuates circles of violence, discrimination and exclusion, regardless of what happened first. Is a factor that deprives children of the sense of safety and represents a barrier to education, health and overall development, daily affecting millions of girls and boys in school communities. “We believe that every child has the right to learn in a violence-free environment, where they will be treated with respect, empathy and compassion. And we recognize that the prevention of bullying requires a holistic approach, including through education, advocacy, community involvement to support both the child who is the target of bullying and the child who bullies,” said Maha Damaj.
According to a study of knowledge, attitudes, practices in preventing and combating bullying in schools in the Republic of Moldova, 21% of students at least once a week are the target of jokes from classmates. 6% said that one of their colleagues daily made jokes about them. Almost half of the students who experienced bullying said that the person who initiated the conflict was either older, taller or thought they were smarter than the target of bullying.
