A protracted war to deal with campus bullying
- By Liang Tao
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E-mail CRI, December 16, 2016
An elite primary school in Beijing has recently denied allegations of bullying on its campus after an open letter written by a fourth-grader's mother about her son being bullied at the school went viral.
In the letter the mother said her ten-year-old son had a wastepaper basket from a bathroom thrown at him and was mocked by two classmates, leading to him suffering from acute stress disorder. Within days of being posted, the open letter had been shared over 100,000 times on WeChat, and had been read over six million times on Weibo.
But the Zhongguancun Second Primary School insisted in a statement that "the incident was accidental and did not constitute bullying or violence."
So, is it bullying? Who can judge whether it is bullying or not? Who has the final say, does the school have this right? These are the first issues that must be addressed in dealing with campus bullying. In fact, campus bullying has not been seriously dealt with in China because schools always downplay such incidents, labeling them "pranks" or "jokes". The bullied students, who are in a relatively weak situation, usually swallow the insult and humiliation silently, once the school decides to not investigate who should take responsibility. Indeed, it encourages the offenders to repeat their actions.
We do need a complete set of legal procedures in investigating and dealing with campus bullying incidents, instead of being led by school administrations alone. The school is an involved party in bullying incidents, which can bury its reputation. If I were the school principal, I would also trivialize the seriousness of the issue and resolve it by leaving it unsettled.
My suggestion is that an independent student affairs center be established in every school. Once suspected campus bullying occurs, the center is responsible for creating an investigation committee composed of school leader representatives, teachers, parents and community committees to conduct an investigation and hold hearings. In accordance with the findings of the investigation, they can mete out punishments. If the offender/offenders do not accept the verdict, they may appeal to the center for further investigation. The final verdict will be issued in accordance with the new findings.
This is the procedure to deal with student violations. Most colleges and universities in China have gradually improved their procedures to encompass bullying incidents, but primary and secondary schools generally have not established this mechanism. Leaders at all levels should attach great importance to this recommendation.
On one hand, this procedure acts as an important kind of legal education for students, making them fully aware that all violations should be investigated by an independent agency and penalized. Any investigation which is not concluded through the legal process should be decided by the executive school leadership.
On the other hand, the establishment of effective disciplinary mechanisms can prevent bullying from reoccuring. An improved mechanism and a fair punishment approach are important to ensure that any sort of rule violation is nipped in the bud.
In recent years, many teachers have complained that they did not dare to criticize or punish students for fear of provoking corporal punishment issues. If a student affair center and a set of procedures were established, many conflicts between teachers and students, and between school and home could be eased.
At present, most primary and middle schools in China do not have an open and democratic system that inclusively involves parents and encourages social participation in dealing with student affairs, in particular bullying behaviors. In this regard, the experience of the Netherlands is worth noting. In the Netherlands, each school has a response system to bullying incidents, which includes a grade assessment of bullying levels, detailed warning notifications and specific treatment procedures. Once campus bullying occurrs, students and parents must immediately make a report to the school to ensure the legal rights of the bullied are protected.
Prevention and control of campus bullying can not be achieved overnight. It requires school, family and even the society to work closely together to form a concerted effort and wage a protracted war against it. The top priority is protecting students' physical and mental health and safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests.
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