BULLYING: THE EVIL THAT MAKES SCHOOL A NIGHTMARE FOR NEW STUDENTS 

Feb 10, 2009

<b>About 60% of children interviewed reported having been bullied</b><br><br>A marabou stork stands on top of a tree in the school compound, waiting for its prey. Under the tree is an old, reed-and-wattle house — a hideout for stubborn boys in this we

About 60% of children interviewed reported having been bullied

BY CONAN BUSINGE

A marabou stork stands on top of a tree in the school compound, waiting for its prey. Under the tree is an old, reed-and-wattle house — a hideout for stubborn boys in this western Uganda school. The ramshackle house has turned into a bullying zone for newcomers nicknamed miyongos.

Like the marabou stork, big boys camp here in the morning to snatch food and other belongings from the weaker pupils. “You learn to do without everything,” says 13-year-old Roger Kizza.

It may seem like a stale issue, but the nasty stories of bullying are still going on behind the scenes in schools. About 60% of children reported having been bullied, according to a 2005 study by Raising Voices Uganda. The report titled Violence Against Children: The Voices of Ugandan Children and Adults, says children reported being humiliated and victimised by older children. Over 1,000 children in Uganda, aged eight to 18, participated in the study.

Bullying is most common at the beginning of the school year when newcomers have reported. Newcomers must learn to live without ‘‘grub” (packed food). They soon also learn that they cannot report to a teacher lest they face it rough from their seniors. They have to use their basins and jerrycans to fetch water for those in candidate classes. The newcomers also have to do without friends, because groups of twos or threes attract attention from the continuing students.

“It is like an unwritten law,” says a new student in a Kampala school. “They call you zontos (foolish people).”

“Some forms of bullying are enough to make a grown man weep,” observes James Mugoba, a teacher in Mayuge. “Boys push each other around and sometimes fight.”

Among girls, bullying is often subtle and indirect, observes Peter Tusubira, a headteacher at Buyanja Secondary School. Older girls can be mean without saying a word: They tell other girls not to make friends with a particular girl, give her the silent treatment, roll their eyes, or make rude remarks.

Why it persists
Why would a child bully his younger counterparts when he knows how much it hurts, having gone through it earlier and knowing that it is not just a part of growing up? “It is fun,” says one bully, in a matter-of-fact tone. “It is so exciting.”

Part of the problem of bullying is that most of the activities occur in the bathrooms, in the dormitories and on taxis on the way home — away from the eyes of teachers and parents. Combating the vice when it is not reported or seen is not easy, so it goes on unchecked.

Causes
Aggrey Kibenge, the education ministry spokesperson, believes the vice is more common in schools which are overcrowded, with inadequate adult supervision, weak rules and regulations.

Psychologists also say bullying could happen out of imitation. When children are bullied or see other people’s behaviour, they are inspired to do the same. “It is possible to bully out of imitation. It is geared by the primitive self,” says Peter Matovu, a counselling psychologist. “We have people, even children, who are aggressive but do not show it. When there is a chance, they copy what they have seen.”

The issue can be environmental or hereditary, Matovu says.

“It is like living with a thief and also becoming a thief,” he says. “If the child’s family and neighbours are always fighting, the child wants to harass other children.”

Stephen Langa, the director of Family Life Network, concurs: “Such a person has no capacity to feel pity and empathy for others.”

What happens in other countries?
School bullying is widespread across the US. Each day an estimated 160,000 children refuse to go to school because they dread the physical and verbal aggression of their peers and the loneliness that comes from being excluded and made the target of rumours and bullying. Many more students attend school in a chronic state of anxiety.

A 2008 report by Plan International titled Learn without Fear: The Global Campaign to End Violence in Schools, shows that between one fifth and two-thirds of children reported being verbally or physically bullied in a minimum of 30 days. In a Kenyan survey of 1,000 students in Nairobi public schools, between 63.2% and 81.8% of students reported various types of bullying. One district in Benin found that 82% of teachers and 92% of pupils confirmed incidences of bullying.

Boys vs girls
Boys were found to be generally more likely than girls to be both victims and perpetrators of bullying. Girls were frequent bullies in Japan. Boys were found to be more likely to use physical intimidation and violence, while girls tended towards verbal and social bullying.

Fun or danger?
“It is a negative investment. Whoever bullies has invested negative seeds. That person you have bullied will never forget you,” says Patrick Bakka Male, the headteacher of King’s College Budo. Bakka’s observation is consistent with the adage “violence begets violence.” Bullying provides children with a poor role model of adult behaviour.

Effects
Research also shows that it can result in depression, withdrawal, sleep disturbances, avoidance of school, learning problems, loss of self-esteem and delinquency.

According to the study by Raising Voices, many children were found to live in perpetual fear of the people around them. The study shows that while 56.6% of the children who were bullied felt ashamed of themselves, 36% harboured fantasies of revenge as they grappled with what to do with their feelings. About 66.7% of the children felt angry, while 65.9% of them would cry and hide in fear, or run away from school.

Globally, several studies suggest that childhood experience of bullying increases anti-social and risk-taking behaviour in adult life. In the US, 60% of bullies have at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24.

Putting an end to the vice
Bullying is a crime. Kibenge says any school that condones bullying does not deserve to have its gates open. “Teasing must never thrive in any school,” he asserts.

“Schools’ Boards of Governors are expected to send copies of their school rules and regulations to the ministry for approval and guarding against bullying should be highlighted.”

Taking action
Bullying can end if school authorities are ready to take action. Donald Oyera, the academic committee chief of Our Lady of Good Counsel Gayaza, says students who engage in the practice should be punished severely. “We expel them indefinitely. We have no room for such characters.”

Also, having school councils in place can help check such behaviour in dormitories and outside the classroom. “If you put up a concerted effort, the habit, once broken, cannot bounce back,” says Sarah Byamugisha, a teacher.

Forms of bullying
Pouring water and urine on newcomers’ beds are some of the tricks bullies use in boys’ schools. “They would cane us at night, while we were sleeping,” says a 20-year-old man who went to St. Leo’s College, Kyegobe in Fort Portal.

Some of the older, bigger boys use the weak students to provoke newcomers and in an attempt to retaliate, the newcomer is roughed up by bullies. The bullies instruct newcomers to wash their clothes, bathe them and collect food for them.

Nick-names given to Senior One students
- Njukas adopted from the novel The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
- Nyongos meaning they are “still wet.”
- Coils to mean they are remote
- Bunsen burners from the first topic covered in the Chemistry lesson.

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