Global Courant 2023-05-13 16:00:43
From January to May of this year, the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH) has received 26 complaints related to bullying, also known as bullying. Of these, 13 correspond to physical aggressions, 12 are of a psychological type and one is verbal.
The number is gradually approaching the pre-pandemic reports. A report from this institution in 2019 states that from January to August of that year, 36 complaints were recorded, while the Ministry of Education registered 56 throughout the year.
According to the institution’s Social Communication office, one complaint was received in January of this year, while in February there were seven, it rose to 11 in March, and six were registered in April. One more was received in May.
On the other hand, the international NGO Bullying without Borders has a more extensive report, in which it states that between January 2022 and April 2023 in Guatemala, 21,500 cases of bullying were registered. The information was collected with the support of collaborators of the entity in each of the sites that were evaluated.
The first three places in the ranking are occupied by Mexico with 270,000 cases, the United States with 250,000 and Spain with 64,554.
The Guide for the prevention of school harassment (bullying) of the Ministry of Education -Mineduc-, qualifies this practice as “repeated violence between peers, colleagues, colleagues, in which one or more individuals intend to intimidate and harass others”. With the return of students to face-to-face, this behavior among children and young people of school age is latent.
The cases reported in 2019, prior to the pandemic, show the risk. That year, the Ministry of Education recorded 51 complaints, and the PDH received 36.
Gabriela Castro, coordinator of the Great National Campaign for Education, indicates that bullying has always been in the school environment, but the confinement forced by the covid-19 health emergency calmed the problem.
He adds that this distancing could cause a socio-emotional stagnation in the students, and they forgot to be tolerant or have patience, because they were distanced from their peers and confined to homework.
“Harassment is exacerbating or possibly it is being seen again because they are once again sharing, living together,” says Castro.
From this account, he indicates that when they return to face-to-face, they have to “readjust” in schools and attend to the socio-emotional aspect, since the students were confined for a long time, some went from children to adolescents or from adolescents to adults, others lost relatives, her parents lost their jobs and that created tensions at home.
unsafe environment
Bullying can be physical —such as hitting, shoving, kicking—, verbal —insults, nicknames—, but also psychological —aggressions, threats, intimidation and exclusion that affect the emotional state of the victim—, as detailed in the prevention guide.
He adds that bullying affects not only the victim but also damages the school environment, when the educational center should be a space where the child feels safe.
In March 2022, the Congress of the Republic approved decree 19-2022 Law Against School Bullying, which establishes May 2 as the National Day against this practice, and establishes the obligation to adopt measures that tend to prevent and eradicate the scourge, including cyberbullying.
The regulations establish that the Ministry of Education and educational centers of any sector must promote actions and activities that raise awareness, prevent, and eradicate bullying, through texts, brochures, didactic material, workshops, and training among members of the educational community.
in cyberspace
This practice can transcend into cyberspace, a way in which media such as social networks, messaging platforms or online games are used to intimidate or harass others, and is known as cyberbullying.
Camilo Gutiérrez Amaya, head of the ESET Latin America Research Laboratory, says that this differs from face-to-face harassment because it occurs anonymously.
With the time that students spend online, and after a long period of using virtuality to study, this practice could increase.
Amaya refers that education is key to help prevent children and young people from becoming victims or to try to minimize the consequences of bullying in any of its manifestations.
The signs that should be paid attention to to detect that a student is a victim of this scourge are changes in behavior, losing interest in things they used to enjoy doing, not wanting to go to study and inventing excuses not to do it, mood swings , lack of appetite and poor school performance. Other warning signs are that they may stop using social networks, there is also a change in the content they publish.
Castro is of the opinion that in the classrooms an “emotional readjustment” must be made in the students through games, actions, therapies or talks to support children and adolescents. He adds that it is also necessary to provide support to parents so that they can handle the situation with their children.
Complaints of bullying can be made to the phones 1584 of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, 110 of the National Civil Police and 2424-1717 of the PDH, you can also go to the headquarters of the institution, at 12 avenue 12 -54, zone 1. The Ministry of Education receives complaints online on the ministry’s website, in the Complaints System section.
