The post has been put together by Kartik, Iqra and Anshul – Members, Children’s Advisory Board, Plan India.

“I was playing in the school playground, when an older child came and threw my ball away and slapped me. I felt humiliated.” said a young student from a school.

When enumerating the primary causes of distress and resentment amongst the children, the most striking one turns out to be bullying. Almost all the children, even in reputed private schools, complain that they have been a victim at least once in their lifetime. Keeping all this in mind, and the fact how bullying leads to negative impacts, we, the CAB members, decided to work to address the issue. We realized that by conducting session with school children, where we will not only interact with them, we will know of their stand and perspective on the issue and give tips to combat the situation.

We started our initiatives by sending out letters to the school authorities, seeking permissions to hold the sessions. We prepared a presentation and enhanced our skill to take the sessions confidently. We had a wonderful time interacting with children; we got to know about their situation and the various instances at which they had been bullied. At first, the children were a bit apprehensive putting forward their views, ideas or incidents. But slowly in each session we have seen a drastic change. We discussed various problems that we face while working on this issue. We also gave in some tips how they could avoid getting bullied.

During this discussion, some of the children even admitted that they had bullied their peers, and resolved to change their attitude and character. At some instances, tears too could be seen in students’ eyes, as they were socially and emotionally bullied.

“Once a child was sitting on a window seat in the school bus, a senior boy came to him and said “leave this seat. I want to sit here”. The boy started crying and left the seat and other children started making fun of him. To stop bullying we should not be afraid of bully and should face him bravely.” said a boy talking about his experience.

By the end of the session, we had been successful in knitting up a strong bond of friendship and trust; some of the students came outside the auditoriums, and personally discussed their own problems with us.

The sessions have played an instrumental role in changing the attitude and thought process of several students towards bullying and social issues in general. The members of CAB have also gained a deeper perspective towards bullying and its various forms, and how it impacts young children. This will definitely help us to carry out our activities on bullying with even greater efficiency. Some schools have reported that students have even grown sensitive and the instances of bullying, a widespread issue, has declined. By now, Members of CAB has conducted seven interactive sessions with the students, and have received and overwhelming response. We plan to conduct sessions in schools ever after, thereby bringing about sensitivity towards these issues in young school students.

CALL FOR  ACTION

If you want sessions to be conducted at your school, please email at  planindia@plan-international.org or write to us at Children’s Advisory Board, Plan India, E – 12 Kailash Colony, New Delhi.

Tags: Learn without fear, violence against children, violence in school