The main objective of the school contact programme is to reach out to students, teachers and school administration. The campaign reached out to 150 schools of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh & Uttrakhand & more than one Lakh students.

The fact that some of the schools have requested CAB to conduct regular session with their students is a testimony to the success of the sessions. In order to answer students’ queries, the CAB members are also accompanied by a psychologist from Max Foundation. Some students at the sessions too have shown quite a positive response as follows:

Incident 1.  A student at one of the sessions complained that he was teased by his fellow peers and was called by different names. He wore spectacles, and so fellow students teased him.

The CAB members made a couple of suggestions. Firstly, try to avoid and ignore the person. Otherwise, try to convert the situation into a funny or humorous one. For instance, if the person addresses you as someone who wears specs, you may want to remark that several intelligent people and geniuses wear spectacles.

Incident 2. Quite a few students at the session admitted that they were bullies.

Here, the CAB played a notable role. CAB members asked the students to go back into time and think over such actions by them. To this, many students were actually in tears and admitted that whatever they did was unwise. They even resolved to reform their actions.

Incident 3. Some students shared that school transport was a major place of bullying.

Here, the team suggested that one should take the support of senior students, or the school should have a dedicated anti-bullying group that can monitor the prevalence of such activities. However, it is to be noted that such a group, if any, should be given restricted powers, so that they do not take undue advantage of the responsibility assigned to them.

Incident 4: A student shared that all his classmates tease him by various names & whenever he goes to the teacher to complain about it, she scolds & says “don’t disturb me in middle of a class”.

We suggested that ‘don’t get annoyed when they tease you instead ignore them or just say to them to stop it & leave that place, go to teacher when she is free not in between the class. Don’t take it personally.

Incident 5: A student shared that every one teases me because I neither use abusive language nor treat anyone badly. They call me seedha bacha (timid guy).

We suggested that, it is a good thing about you, never get annoyed by such comments, take it as praise & reply that you are better than them in behavior (tumhare tarah teda nahi hoon). If in difficulty you can approach teacher.

Incident 6: A student shared that whenever I complain to the teacher about the kids who trouble me then they group up together afterwards & start complaining about me, as a result of which I get scolded.

We suggested that the best way in this situation is to go to the teacher when she is in the staffroom, discuss everything with her in detail and ask her to observe those kids. She will soon realize her mistake & will listen to you in future.

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.

“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.