According to Unicef, Bullying is defined as hostile/excluding and derisive behavior, humiliating. A child is labeled, teased, mocked in his circle of acquaintances or by peers who call him a certain way (referring to physical appearance or medical/family problems). Sometimes these teasings turn into fights or even, in some cases, physical attacks.
Bullying is a form of emotional and physical abuse, which has three characteristics:
Intentional – the aggressor intends to hurt someone;
Repeated – the same person is hurt over and over again;
Imbalance of power – the aggressor chooses his victim who is perceived as vulnerable, weak and unable to defend himself.
The phenomenon of “bullying” is much more common than we would like to believe. It happens in the school corridors, in the yard, on the streets and, unfortunately, sometimes in the classrooms. Undetected in time, bullying can leave trauma and irreversible repercussions on the child’s adaptability in society.
Bullying cases involve at least one bully and one victim, and in some cases there are also witnesses. We can discuss physical, verbal, sexual or mental bullying.
Bullying in numbers: The data indicates the intensification of hate speech (HST) against vulnerable groups in society, especially online. Thus, 73% of the children witnessed a situation of bullying in the school environment, 58% witnessed such situations of harassment and humiliation in their own class, 46% in the group of friends, and 69% in the online environment. Study carried out by the organization Save Romanian Children in 2016.
Starting from the identified social problem, we propose to intervene, we want to organize and implement projects involving young people, teachers, school counselors and parents alike in order to identify bullying situations in school and to ensure prompt and efficient intervention in order to reduce the phenomenon.
We also propose to hold conferences, debates, contests, information sessions, counseling sessions and activities to raise awareness of the bullying phenomenon.