Update

HESSEQUA NUUS - From the school playground to the internet, bullying is a widespread problem that can affect your child's mental and emotional health.

Southern Cape Forum reported on the issue in the report "Boeliegedrag vier hoogty in skole" (3 October 2019).

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) in reaction to a request for their stance on bullying, commented as follows.

"We view bullying very seriously and take constructive steps to address it in schools," said Jessica Shelver. "It represents an attack on human dignity and shouldn't be tolerated. We have to adopt a zero-tolerance approach if we want to build a caring society based on the values of our Constitution."

Bullying behaviour is typically when a child or group of children misuse their power to hurt other children or exclude them.

Traditional bullying
There are the 'traditional' types of bullying, namely physical abuse, verbal or written abuse and social abuse, such as when learners gossip about each other, exclude each other from a group or reveal personal information about a learner with the goal of humiliating them.

Cyber bullying
Bullying tactics have developed with modern technology, and also include cyber-bullying. This refers to the wilful, deliberate and repeated harm inflicted by using computers, cellphones, and other electronic devices. This type of bullying includes name-calling and using social media platforms to send threatening messages, emails and viruses, hacking and posting a picture or video on the internet without permission. Such cases of cyber-bullying can spread fast and become viral in a matter of hours.

Guidelines
"The department issued guidelines to all schools on social media and social networking in public schools and I would encourage all officials, principals, educators and school governing bodies to study these," said Shelver.

These guidelines are designed to create an awareness about some of the opportunities presented by social media, but also the potential benefits and risks associated with them. Most importantly, they assist public schools to develop their own policies in order to regulate the use of social media and social networking at these schools.

The guidelines can be found on the WCED website https://wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za under Circulars.

Read a previous article: WCED says no to bullying

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