Keeping children safe from bullying

Most of us may not know that bullying is quite common in Bangladesh. In most cases, some dominant students target their weaker peers, to make fun of their disabilities or academic performance. Often the victims of bullying carry scars of the trauma throughout their lives. Bullying can be of different types including verbal, psychologicaland cyber bullying. According to researches, if a child is exposed to different types of bullying while growing up, it will be dangerous for its metal and physical development. A bullied child can experience inferiority complex, lack of self confidence, depression and more.
In fear of being bullied, a child can stay alone and does not want to mix its friends, family, relatives and also shows reluctance to go to school. So there is no other alternative to create a bullying-free environment for the mental development of children. We all should be vocal and create public awareness against bullying. Parents should also be aware of their children and develop a friendly relationship with their children. We strongly feel that more should be done to help schoolchildren in this regard. And educational institutions should have mandatory classes on mental health issues as well as prevention of bullying.

Muhammad Sultan Mahmud,
Student of Department of Psychology,
Dhaka College, Dhaka