Some learners feel that the only way to escape bullies is to either drop out of school or even worse, take their own lives. Studies have shown that the epidemic is constantly growing and becoming worse at schools and may even be seen at some workplaces.
Motivational Speaker Shakes Dlutu explained that when there is no early intervention, children who bully become adults who bully.
Therefore, it is important for bullying to be addressed as soon as possible to prevent these children from continuing the bad habit of bullying others.
Dlutu said that bullying is still not taken very seriously until there are awful consequences, such as people taking their own lives. It is only then that people start paying attention to their actions and address the situation.
Other experts have stated that bullying generally starts at home where parents and guardians set an example of how their children should behave. This results in those being bullied at home, bullying others at school and eventually within their workplace as well.
Dlutu mentioned that it is important for interventions to stop bullying, to start within the home. It is both the responsibility of the parent and the teachers at the schools to act on the problem as soon as it appears.
It is evident that children learn better through repetition, so the more they are exposed to a certain event or behaviour, the more they learn to copy that behaviour.
Therefore, anti-bully campaigns should be done regularly to enforce the idea that bully is not allowed and can lead to devastating events.
As the saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child”. Therefore, everyone that comes into contact with the child should be hands-on and try to find the source of why the child is bullying others and do the best to address the issue as soon as possible.
The responsibility should not only lie on the parents and teachers but the family and the whole school unit as well.
Dlutu provides training related to bullying in Primary Schools, High Schools, tertiary institutions and even in corporate environments as well. Their main focus at schools is the safety of children and preventing bullying before it escalates.
