Almost half of schoolchildren are bullied

JEDDAH: Some 25 percent of teenagers are bullied, according to a survey conducted by King Abdullah Center for Research on the health of adolescents in Saudi Arabia, the chief executive of the National Family Safety Program, Maha Al-Maneef, revealed.
The study, "The prevalence of violence and ill-treatment of children in schools", which was carried out by the National Family Safety Program, showed that 47 percent of schoolchildren are bullied.
This means that one or two out of every four children are subjected to bullying or violence from their peers, which also means that those children are more at risk of emotional and behavioral problems in the long run, said Al-Maneef.
She added that physical bullying is higher among males than among females, while verbal and psychological bullying or cyberbullying are more widespread among girls than among boys.
However, studies have shown that physical bullying rates have dropped compared to the past periods due to protection policies and codes of conduct in place in schools.
Bullying exists among male and female students in all countries of the world. Studies show that it could be one of the causes of suicide. Several studies have been conducted on the subject in the Middle East and in the Kingdom.
Bullying takes many forms, including physical, manifested through beating and use of physical force. Psychological and verbal bullying could take the form of threats, intimidation and harassment, while sexual bullying involves threatening to use sexual images or sending messages with sexual content.
Cyberbullying is sending threats and using social media to post messages of hate, threats, intimidation and dominance.
Al-Maneef said that the NFSP carried out awareness campaigns in this regard in partnership with the Ministry of Education. The first such campaign, which lasted 19 days, was called "Curbing bullying or violence among peers."
The National Family Safety Program’s youth committee won the Women's World Summit Foundation award 2012 for this project. The campaign has been activated in schools and public places. Several government agencies cooperated to launch a national project to curb bullying in schools.