POLOWKANE – Pietersburg Comprehensive Primary School has an ongoing anti-bullying campaign.
Rudi Fick, the school’s Headmaster explained they started the campaign on Valentine’s Day and it will continue throughout the the year. Learners can show their support for the initiative by buying badges they can wear with their school uniform, which bear messages against bullying.
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“We found a lot of our children stay in town with their grannies or caregivers, they don’t live with their parents, so they don’t receive the attention they need at home. They come to school looking for attention and how do they get it? By pushing or swearing at someone else. Not all children are like this,” he explained.
Fick explained how bullying stems from a need for attention. “Somebody suggested we start the anti-bullying campaign because bullying can be swearing, humiliating another child or even taking money from another learner.”
The school saw the need to make the learners aware of what bullying is, but more importantly make them aware how important it is to report it.
“They don’t report bullying, especially the little ones. The campaign is aimed at encouraging learners who are being bullied or know a bully, to come forward and report it. This way we can find out what the problem is because most of the time, the problem stems from outside the school grounds,” he added.
He says the effects of bullying build-up, then it erupts into something bigger than it should have been, because it was not nipped in the bud.
“The badges serve as a reminder for the children that bullying is wrong. They see and they remember, when they don’t see they forget. We reinforce it as much as possible, the teachers as well. We also try to integrate anti-bullying into our daily lessons as much as possible so it’s also age- appropriate according to the different levels,” he said.
The school has also opened its doors to various stakeholders to assist with the fight against bullying.
reporter04@nmgroup.co.za
