Bullying: surveillance, snitching, stand your ground

“Standing up to bullying shows care and courage in your heart”- Ty Howard

A few weeks ago, Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara reminded all schools to craft their effective anti-bullying policies by the country’s Anti-Bullying Act of 2013. Secretary Angara called for a tougher implementation of the country’s Anti-Bullying Law (RA 10627). The said law mandates that schools must implement effective anti-bullying policies.

Unfortunately, recent studies both locally and internationally have shown that the incidence of bullying has risen in previous years. In fact, there was a recent study that stated the Philippines is allegedly the “bullying capital” of the world.

Bullying in school is an age-old problem. There have been several programs and advocacies that have been introduced with little or no effect. Perhaps, it is time for more creative and draconian measures to effectively stem the increase of bullying.

There are some who advocate an extensive surveillance system in schools as an effective tool against both bullying and crime. There is a pending House Bill (9260) entitled, the Campus Security Act. Under the said measure, all schools will be mandated to install surveillance cameras in strategic areas over the school. The said surveillance video footage can be used in investigating bullying incidents. The use of this system shall of course be subject to existing privacy laws and measures of transparency. CCTV’s alone, of course, cannot deter bullying. A comprehensive set of rules and policies must be in place as part of a holistic and interlocked approach to implementing anti-bullying policies.

Some schools with effective anti-bullying policies encourage and cultivate a culture of snitching in their school communities. A culture of silence and non-interference among the students is often the norm. How often do we hear of students who become mere bystanders when bullying occurs either because of fear or a misplaced sense of solidarity? Students at an early age can be programmed to accept a culture of snitching by teaching them that this is a form of helping others in need. An anonymous platform where they can either identify those in need of help or those engaged in bullying can go a long way in augmenting an anti-bullying policy. Measures to prevent false accusations and a system of corroborating sources can weed out inaccurate or untruthful reports. There are also proposals to punish bystanders in physical bullying incidents.

A zero tolerance to fighting applied to bullying victims or those who defend victims should also be prohibited. One of the dumbest school policies prevalent in some schools is when the school punishes the victim as severely as the bully in instances where the victim fights back. The concept of standing one’s ground when attacked or defending a victim is an accepted policy in law as long as there is sufficient provocation and reasonableness of the force used. At the very least, any punishment given to the victim should be much lighter than the one given to the bully. Capacitating victims and the students in general should be the end goal and not a blind lazy adherence to zero tolerance to violence.

Insofar as the bullies are concerned, a policy of intervention and punishment should be applied. If a bully is assessed to be salvageable and if the parents are willing to cooperate then, intervention and counseling should be applied with a dose of strict monitoring. If the alleged bully and his parents refuse to cooperate then, the said student must be expelled and transferred.

In order to fully implement and stitch together this policy, fully equipped school personnel should be assigned to monitor bullying and other problems regarding discipline. Ideally, a team of no-nonsense but caring guidance counselors and strict school discipline officers who are part bloodhounds and part cops should be hired and assigned as anti-bullying policy implementors.

In the end, all the stakeholders in the education system including the parents must pitch in to finally help stem the increasing rise of bullying incidents. On the other hand, there are those who advocate a “Lord of the Flies” policy of letting the students work it out among themselves and create an environment where the strong thrive and survive. What do you think?

This is my oblique observation.

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in the foregoing article are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the Philippine News Agency (PNA) or any other office under the Presidential Communications Office.