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Bullied learners can become suicidal: What needs to be done to stop bullying in schools?

26 April 2021 | Story Dr Emmanuel Mayeza

Opinion article by Dr Emmanuel Mayeza, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of the Free State

On Monday 12 April 2021, Lufuno Mavhunga, a 15-year-old female learner at Mbilwi Secondary School in Limpopo, South Africa, was aggressively assaulted by another learner at school. The video showing the humiliating violent attack was circulated on various social media platforms. Sadly, Lufuno subsequently died as a result of suicide. During the bullying incident, bystanders (her school mates) watched, cheered, laughed, and recorded videos of the incident. The alleged perpetrator (another 14-year-old female learner at the same school) has since been arrested by the police and charged with assault. The school will institute disciplinary action against the bystanders who failed to assist and protect Lufuno. Lufuno’s family, however, believes that the school did not do enough to support Lufuno after the incident was reported to the school principal.

The victimisation of Lufuno could have been prevented, and I will show in this article what can be done to stop and prevent bullying in South African schools.

Suicide: the ultimate consequence of being bullied at school

Lufuno’s victimisation and her tragic death highlight the scourge, as well as the seriousness, of the problem of bullying in South African schools. School-based bullying has various consequences for everyone at school, but victims often incur the most devastation from bullying. The consequences of being bullied at school include the development of psychological and emotional problems such as distress, damaged self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. If these problems are not addressed timeously or appropriately, it could ultimately result in suicide. Although Lufuno’s victimisation was reported to the school authorities, the deceased young victim did not receive any professional psychological counselling following the traumatic experiences of being bullied and the video of this incident being shared on social media. It seems that the victim dealt with the bullying mostly by herself and that the people who knew about the bullying did not take her ordeal and anxieties seriously enough.

Bullying is gendered and complex: Girls as victims and as bullies

Bullying is a form of gender violence. It is based on the asymmetrical relations of power that are prevalent in our patriarchal society. The key feature of such relations is men and boys assuming authority, domination, and control through violence against girls, women, and femininities. However, Lufuno’s victimisation draws our attention to the complexities of bullying and gender power relations among learners at school. Although boys and men often emerge as perpetrators of violence against girls and women, bullying in schools is a complex issue and girls are not always the passive victims of male violence. Both girls and boys can become victims and bullies. Bullying is an expression of power, and girls too are capable of expressing power through forms of violence against other girls and against some boys. Indeed, a recent study on bullying among learners in a South African primary school highlights the vulnerability of younger boys to violence perpetrated by older girls at school ( https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v41n1a1858 ). Therefore, we must acknowledge that the victimisation of Lufuno by another girl is not something unique. Gender relations are dynamic, and we can see that girls too have learnt how to use violence to express power and to claim dominance over other learners in schools.

What needs to be done to stop and prevent school-based bullying?

While the processes of the criminal justice system regarding Lufuno’s victimisation are underway, effective prevention programmes are also required in order to stop bullying at school. Such programmes must be designed with the view to empower everyone at school with skills and knowledge on how to prevent bullying from happening, and how to react appropriately when bullying is witnessed or reported. To end bullying, the school should consider addressing bystanders, improving the availability of professional support services to victims of bullying, re-thinking the curriculum, and establishing stronger partnerships with other stakeholders.

All learners at the school must be addressed in terms of the roles that they can play as active bystanders who are committed to ending bullying. Bystanders must be empowered so that they know what bullying constitutes and are able to see when bullying happens and know how to intervene appropriately to stop it and protect the victim. They must know the seriousness of bullying and its consequences, and that this includes suicide. Bystanders must understand that posting a video or a photo on social media showing someone being abused is in itself also a form of bullying. Bystanders must be informed that they have a responsibility to report any form of bullying they witness at school to the school authorities or to their parents or guardians.

When learners have reported bullying, school authorities need to take the reported incident seriously and act appropriately, especially in terms of supporting the victim. To reduce the risk of victims committing suicide, professional psychological counselling support must be offered to the victims without delay. However, the risk of committing suicide among victims of bullying can only be significantly reduced if proper resources and victim support services are available at the school. The lack of such resources and services at Mbilwi Secondary School presents a major risk for victims to resort to suicide.

The school should also explore possibilities of developing learning programmes that will foreground bullying and raise awareness about this serious issue. Such programmes should be compulsory for all learners and must be designed to encourage learners to speak out about their experiences, perceptions, and anxieties around bullying. Consequences of bullying and what needs to be done to stop and prevent school-based bullying should also form part of the topics for discussion within such learning programmes.

However, the school cannot be successful in its efforts towards ending bullying if it acts alone. The violent behaviour that learners demonstrate at school reflects, to a large extent, the normalised violence within households and communities. The school, therefore, must form strong partnerships with parents, communities, government, religious institutions, and other relevant stakeholders to explore effective ways of addressing bullying at school. The school must engage productively with these different stakeholders, and such engagements should also include learners’ voices and perspectives on the issue of bullying and how to end it.

News Archive

Letter to students from Prof Jonathan Jansen about student protest action at the UFS

2015-10-21

Dear Students

Student protest action at the University of the Free State

I wish to make clear that the senior leadership of the University of the Free State understands and supports the demands from students and their leaders that higher education be accessible to all students, especially the poor. For the past six years we have done everything in our power to meet that commitment to students who are academically talented, but simply cannot afford to pay; that is why our tuition fees remain among the lowest in the country. Our efforts to raise private funding have enabled thousands more students to study at the UFS than would have been possible on the government subsidy only. Whether it is the Staff Fund contributions (yes, our staff empty their pockets to support student fees) or the No Student Hungry (NSH) bursary programme (yes, we raise funds for food bursaries), we will continue our drive to fund students who cannot afford higher education. Let me repeat, no student with a solid academic record will be denied access to studies simply because they cannot pay.

Now, to the matter at hand. There is a national demand from students for a 0% fee increment for 2016. The Minister’s response, after consultation with stakeholders, was that universities should cap their 2016 fee increases at 6%. Despite this initiative from government, the protests continue on virtually all campuses across South Africa for the ‘no fee’ increase.

Our response, as the UFS leadership, is to continue engaging the SRC as the chosen leadership of our students in trying to negotiate a settlement on the matter. We have worked around the clock to be available to student leaders to find some resolution on 2016 fees. While we understand the demands of students, as university leaders, we can only work with the government subsidy we receive. Any agreement reached, cannot and must not place the university at academic and financial risk in its ability to deliver public higher education to the country - if that happens, everybody loses. Still, no matter what happens in terms of the response from government, the leadership door at the UFS remains open to finding a mutually acceptable solution to all parties in these deliberations.

Students, we are deeply concerned by the violence, intimidation and threats from the small group of protesting students. These dangerous and demeaning behaviours, like disrupting classes and verbally abusing students and staff, undermine the legitimate quest of students for relief concerning tuition fees. Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and the university will take action where required. We must also remember that we have an obligation to all 30 000 students whose right to learn without fear of violence and intimidation must be respected.

In conclusion, over the past few years we have worked hard to build a culture of mutual respect and embrace as we worked through some very difficult challenges on campus. You would have noticed that the university leadership responded quickly and sympathetically to reason and respect in difficult situations of rage and demonstration. A minority of students, with some outsiders, have come onto the campus to break down that culture in which, while we might disagree, we continue to work on the basis of mutual respect. I urge all students that, as we engage of this important problem of enabling greater access to higher education, we continue to remain true to the core values of our Human Project.

Best Regards

Prof Jonathan Jansen
Vice-Chancellor and Rector
University of the Free State

Letter to students from Prof Jonathan Jansen about student protest actions at the UFS (Pdf format)

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