Bullying report rocks Spanish education system

SAVE THE CHILDREN have released a report about the number of Spanish children between 12 and 16 years old who have been bullied in a school setting. 

21,487 students from all of Spain´s regions participated in the study, the first of its kind to be conducted in a decade. 

The NGO’s 130-page study, published on February 18, claims that one in three of the Spanish children surveyed admitted to assaulting a classmate in the two months preceding the study, while approximately 50 per cent admitted to using abusive language with peers. 

Six out of ten students interviewed said they had been subjected to insults at least once, while three out of ten reported receiving physical blows. 

The study’s results have also highlighted the ‘modern’ bully´s methods, as well as their consequences on the young psyche. 

Cyberbullying via Facebook and other social networks was a recurring theme, in addition to rumour-mongering, theft of belongings, beatings and social exclusion. 

6.3 per cent of those surveyed revealed themselves to be victims of ‘fraping’ or social network account hacking. 

Oddly, the resulting figures also showed that in Andalucia, Murcia, Melilla and the Balearic Islands, the number of children on the receiving end of bullying is “higher than the national average”.

Depression, absenteeism, eating disorders, dysfunctional relationship patterns and suicide are just a few of the effects of this form of violence, results show.  

The results can also be used to indicate a national average, say Save the Children, meaning that 111,000 children under 16 years old have suffered harassment, while 82,000 are victims of cyberbullying. 

Reasons for the astounding figures, according to the report, could be that “Spain lacks a comprehensive approach to combat all forms of violence in childhood”. 

Its authors advocate having “protocols within the school to set clear and known mechanisms for all” and “to have more data and understand the phenomenon”.  

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