National anti-bullying campaign should complement school-based initiatives - Wright

 

President of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS), Linvern Wright, says the impending national drive against bullying in schools should complement the interventions that are already taking place in these institutions. 

 

Education Minister Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon on Wednesday disclosed that the government is working with UNICEF to introduce an anti-bullying campaign to address the root causes of the behaviour.

 

Planning for the campaign, which is in the advanced stages, comes against the background of two cases of suicide involving students which are both believed to have been prompted by bullying. 

 

Speaking Thursday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, Mr. Wright, who is also principal of William Knibb Memorial High School, said his institution and others have implemented verbal and written rules regarding bullying.

 

"Last year, when I learnt at William Knibb what was happening, it is something that became a part of our rules explicitly; explicity stated in terms of what it is the consequences are. The same kind of approach to reporting it is one of the big, big things we try to be serious about because you understand how grave a problem it is and you don't want it to be affecting students," said the principal.

 

Mr. Wright said the national drive should complement what is already supposed to be happening at the local level where administrators and teachers are first responders. He suggested that student leaders should also be involved in the initiative. 

 

Principal of St. George's College, Margaret Campbell, also shared her school's approach to bullying, which she said starts with a clear definition of the behaviour. 

 

Ms. Campbell, who was also a guest on the Morning Agenda, noted that the school is working on a written policy. 

 

"We found that that would be the first step in trying to address it. But not just for students, students and staff. Because, for example, a student might say, but all I said was this bad thing to him... I wasn't going to him repeatedly. But when you think about it, the bullying could be that you were the last in a group of people that said the bad thing.

 

"So, we define it clearly for students, the different types of bullying, including cyber bullying, the latest one to the party. So, we clarify it for them, and then we talk about the challenges with it and what it does to people and so forth. In terms of a policy, we have a clear stated policy, but a policy isn't really a policy until it's written," she acknowledged.