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Strong support for campaign to combat schoolyard bullying

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2016-05-10 09:17Shanghai Daily Editor: Huang Mingrui

Education officials are squaring off against the city's school bullies.

Local schools yesterday vowed to combat school bullying after the Education Ministry's inspection's office asked all primary and secondary schools in the country to crack down on oral, physical and online abuse.

The written request came after Education Minister Yuan Guiren fielded questions from journalists about school violence at a recent news conference.

He said the education authorities would work with other government departments to combat school bullies and work with schools, families and communities to ensure students grow up in a safe environment.

The ministry asked schools to assess their bullying problems and attempt to address them by July, telling them it would examine their progress between September and December.

"Though school bullying is not very serious in Shanghai, the inspections will help further improve security in local schools to protect students," said Wang Wenhui, vice headmaster of the Xilin Middle School in Jinshan District.

According to the ministry, schools should educate pupils about the moral, psychological and security implications of campus bullying, and invite police and judicial officials to talk to them about the legal aspects.

They should also train faculty members in bullying prevention methods, assign staff members to specific response roles, establish psychological consultation rooms for helping victims, and set up hotlines for victims to ask for help, the ministry said. It added that schools must identify and investigate bullying cases in a timely fashion, and report them to police if they are criminal in nature.

The problem is not as bad in Shanghai as it is in other areas, say teachers, but they recognise the need for ongoing vigilance.

"Students in our school appear on good terms, but it's hard to say if they get along harmoniously 100 percent of the time," said Zhou Zhichao, vice principal of Yangpu Vocational Technical School.

Students no longer fight on campus because teachers patrol regularly and surveillance cameras have been installed in most schools, but they do fight off campus, and most of the troublemakers are from broken families and therefore lack parental supervision, said Wang.

"Two students in Xilin fought over a football during a PE class and one asked several older students from a vocational school to beat up the other after school in a remote lane, said Wang.

"One student even called friends for help to beat up someone who had said something he thought was insulting in a group chat via WeChat (an instant messaging application)," he added.

According to Wang, Xilin has worked with local police to install cameras in remote streets and lanes near the school.

"Most of our students behave well," he said. "But this campaign is necessary and will hopefully improve the situation."

  

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