WE totally agree with the Health and Medical Services Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete that bullies should never be entertained in schools.
In fact we say bullies should not be tolerated at all.
Adding to that, bullies in schools must be pointed out and urgently dealt with.
It should not end there, their parents and guardians must be included in any action taken to appropriately deal with them.
Our students deserve to attend school confident that their rights to quality education, emotional safety, and the peace of mind of their parents and guardians are protected.
Education is very important for our nation.
Dr Waqainabete highlighted the bullying issue during the World Children’s Day celebration at the Nehru Memorial Primary School in Toorak, Suva recently.
He said he supported the Education Ministry’s efforts to combat bullying in schools across the country.
No child in schools, he said, should suffer at the hands of bullies.
“This could have a devastating impact on children emotionally, psychologically and physically.”
He said people should work together to ensure children learnt in an environment where they felt safe and protected.
We agree.
Our children must have a safe environment in school.
There is no room for bullies.
They must be held accountable for their actions, and every measure put in place to ensure they have no freedom to cause damage to other students.
The education system must come down very hard on bullies.
We realise teachers may have it tough right now, but we believe they must be able to monitor the behaviour of students under their charge, and parents and guardians must be part of the solution, ensuring our children appreciate the feelings of others, understand the need for concern for others, and truly appreciate the rights every human being has about safety, and the right to a safe environment in school.
Dr Waqainabete also urged children to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
He called on schools and parents to help children maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle to prevent NCDs.
UNICEF Pacific representative Sheldon Yett said children should be taught to eat healthy from an early age.
These healthy eating habits, he pointed out, should start from an early age “because NCDs have a major threat on their lives”.
Living this diet issue aside for a while, there can be no doubts about the fact that we do have bullies in schools.
They may be assaulting other students, demanding their lunch perhaps, bullying students in lower streams for their lunch money perhaps, teasing other students, and generally making other students feel inferior or intimidated.
Our school system must clamp down on such behaviour.
There must be clarity in responses and a clear line of action that ensures every student knows what is right and wrong.
To all those schools already effectively dealing with this rather worrying issue, acknowledgment is due.
We say thank you for the initiative and stance.
As parents and guardians, we also have a duty to ensure our young children are constantly reminded about the importance of dealing with this issue.
This isn’t an easy issue to deal with, we realise that, but we also must set an example and be consistent in delivering this very important message daily.
In the long run, it can only be good for Fiji.
