The beginning of the school year in Galicia was marked by four cases of harassment that once again highlighted relations between minors in the school environment. These four cases – Lugo, Figo, Puyo, Bayona – came to the media because of their special weakness. … of the victims, Very young students or students with functional diversity, Which further aggravates the situation. But the truth is that bullying is an occasional scourge that can affect any student, and which requires a lot of prevention, as well as quick reaction.
Statistics indicate this More than 9% of students suffer from bullying To a lesser or greater extent. Events such as the suicide of a 14-year-old girl in Seville in the first weeks of school herald a threat that has always been there, but is now using social networks and early access to these technologies to take harassment outside the center’s walls. Regarding the data processed in Galicia, the Director General of Education, Judith Fernandez, explained to ABC that although there was more coverage by the media, the number of files activated in the event of a possible case of harassment decreased last year, from about From 680 from 2023-24 to 615 from 24-25. One hundred of them reached the prosecutor’s office.
Beyond identifying the data needed to X-ray the problem, what concerns the actors involved is the speed with which the centers can respond to the slightest suspicion. There, protocols are the only roadmap to follow. The first thing the Ministry of Education pointed out was this When there is a complaint, the “pre-investigation phase” is activated. Which means that the center’s administration has seven days to collect evidence of what is happening. If it is confirmed that something has happened, the families are called, with all the information on the table, and Attempts are being made to assess the level of harassment To take measures ranging from expelling the harasser for a period of four days to a month, to direct transfer to the center in the most serious cases, in which it will also be necessary to activate the juvenile prosecution, depending on their characteristics.
The regulations also take this into account in all files in which corrective measures are issued There is a follow-up later For both the bullied child and the bully or bullies to monitor how the situation develops. At this point the number “Wellness Coordinator” Who is often chosen as a teacher for his closeness to the students and his sensitivity, who will be the point of reference both for the harassed students and for all observers of the situation, who see what is happening but do not dare to raise their voices. In larger centres, the Galician Department of Education has gone a step further by creating anti-bullying teams, with more teachers involved in eliminating these behaviours, and striving for all students to have a trusted person within these teams.
On the material level, Orange mailboxes These are other tools that the student must use to avoid humiliation and humiliation among his peers. These are anonymous boxes, placed at secret points, where these rings can be announced anonymously. The websites of all centers contain a digital link to them.
When asked about the ages at which bullying increases, the director recognized that it is closely linked to the use of cell phones, ESO is the most problematic educational stage, Although infant and primary schools are not immune to this problem. The professionals at the MINUS Foundation know this well, as they work alongside primary school students in the first and second grades – ages 7 to 9 – in about three dozen pilot projects that seek to foster empathy and care for the classroom as if it were a community. Through their projects, the classroom is transformed into a spaceship and caring for classmates is the basic premise, Collective responsibility that seeks to break group pressure Which sometimes hides cases of harassment, with complicit students who turn a blind eye.
Veronica Ripadola, the foundation’s director, confirms – The phenomenon of bullying increases in the classroom. “Before, a child would be bullied at school, walk out the door, come home and be in a safe place. Today a child comes out of class and comes home with it in his pocket and on his cell phone, and even when he is at home they continue to harass him,” reflects the professional who pleads to go to the root of the problem to find out. Not just the problems of the child being bullied, but the problems behind the bully. “For a child to act this violently, something is wrong,” Ripadola explains before launching another conclusion. “The threshold for violence is increasingly higher. “Before, kicking someone was violence, today a kick is a touch,” he scolded, placing the blame squarely on the violent and “adult type” content that minors consume via social media, leading to their normalization and imitation.
No to smartphones
Initiatives such as banning access to smartphones for children under 16 that come from some parents’ groups and associations are praised by some professionals who appeal to awareness within the family itself as a prerequisite in the fight against harassment and “cyberbullying”, one of its harshest aspects. Monitoring of minorsThis is what all parties consulted assume, which is another matter. “Children speak in many ways, through their drawings and actions…they tell you if they are wrong,” they warn.
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