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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

Academic and security arrangements on the Bloemfontein and South Campuses for the coming week

2016-02-28

All academic and administrative services on the Bloemfontein and South Campuses of the University of the Free State (UFS) will resume on Monday 29 February 2016.

The following academic and security arrangements have been put in place:

1. Academic arrangements:
It is important to remember that losing an academic week has major implications for all students, particularly for first-year students, and for purposes of academic planning. The university will therefore resume its normal work on Monday 29 February 2016. Losing any additional time will severely disadvantage students, especially those who desperately need the time to catch up with lectures ahead of the coming tests and examinations. Many more students will struggle to complete the academic year if any further time is lost.

In order to ensure that the academic work of the university is not undermined, the UFS will extend this academic term by one week. This will allow the completion of the work scheduled for last week. Given the impact that disruptions had on the emotions and concentration of many of our students, academics are requested to manage the setting and re-setting of all tests and assignments scheduled for last week with sensitivity, and to be supportive of students as they re-start their academic work. No student should be disadvantaged in terms of tests or assignments as a result of last week’s closure. We know you would do this anyway, but this is a reminder to all staff of what we expect to be a common approach and understanding on the part of lecturers.

We rely on the leadership of the deans in the seven faculties to support staff and students in dealing with the lost time in the most appropriate manner and in supporting all efforts to refocus energies on the academic project.

As the senior leadership and management of the university, we will continue to do everything in our power to make sure that the academic programme continues uninterrupted.

2. Security arrangements:
The Bloemfontein Campus is secure and we have more than doubled the security arrangements, with the interdict firmly in place.

The university management condemns in the strongest possible terms the violence that took place at Xerox Shimla Park on the night of Monday 22 February 2016. It also condemns the disruptions of the university that followed Monday’s event, which resulted in the suspension of academic and administrative activities on the Bloemfontein Campus. In line with the terms of the interdict - and now that we are at full capacity to secure this very large and spread-out campus - the university will act swiftly and firmly if any protests or disruption recur.

The following security arrangements are in place:
2.1 Staff and students must have their staff and student cards with them when entering the campus. Passengers in motor vehicles will have to present their cards to security personnel before access could be granted. Security personnel will check this physically by verifying that each person has a valid staff or student card.

2.2 Buses will not be allowed to enter the campus and passengers will have to be dropped off outside the gates - passengers will enter through the turnstiles with their valid access cards. Anyone without a valid access card will have to go to the Visitors Centre and present positive proof of ID (SA ID, passport or driver’s licence).

2.3 Pedestrians will have to swipe their cards at the turnstiles at the gates. Those without cards will have to enter through the Visitors Centre by presenting positive proof of ID (SA ID, passport or driver’s licence).

2.4 Visitors must report to the Visitors Centre (at Gate 5 in DF Malherbe Drive) and present positive proof of ID (SA ID, passport or driver’s licence).

2.5 Due to anticipated delays, it is advised that people allow some additional time when planning their routes to campus and to also make use of the less busy gates, such as Gate 4 (Furstenburg Road) and Gate 2 (Roosmaryn Residence).

2.6 It is advised that walkways be used, especially at night, and that pedestrians should keep to areas that are well lit.

Security helpline: +27(0)51 401 2911 | +27(0)51 401 2634.

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