Violence and bullying at schools an aggressive behavior that is further entrenched by terrorism and electronic games

 School violence and bullying is a growing up problem all over the world. It deprives millions of children and young people from their fundamental right to education and has devastating consequences on academic achievement as well as on the physical and mental health of children.

 In Syria, schools are witnessing an increase in this aggressive behavior among students as a result of the impacts of the ten-year terrorist war on the country and the violent scenes in electronic games exported by western societies to all parts of the world.

Dr. Manal Al-Sheikh, the psychological guidance and counseling specialist at the Faculty of Education of Damascus University, told SANA that school violence and bullying is learned behavior that aims at harming others verbally or physically. It negatively affects children’s psychological health and leads in most cases to school dropout.

According to Al-Sheikh, physical violence can lead sometimes to the death of the victim as what happened to an eighth grade student in one of the schools of Hama when a quarrel happened between the students. She attributed this aggressive behavior, which led to disastrous results, to students watching an action movie or violent electronic games.

 Protection

On protection from school violence, Dr. Raafat Ahmad, a psychotherapy specialist at the Faculty of Education, said that protection starts by raising family awareness, particularly children, about this problem, noting the importance of focusing on sports as a means to investing children’s energy in useful things and on enhancing the children’s skills in drawing and music as a means to refine their souls.

Director of the Research Department at the Education Ministry Sabeet Suleiman said that the terrorist war on Syria has greatly affected the psychological state of children and led to an increase in violence and bullying incidents at schools. In addition, the electronic games exported by the West also have played a negative role that affected the children’s psychological state, she pointed out.

 Suleiman clarified that the ministry of Education plans to deal with these cases by adopting positive educational methods in accordance with scientific principles that contribute to achieving the voluntary discipline of the students.

UNESCO marked the first International Day against Violence and Bullying at School on November 5, 2020. According to its report, 246 million children and adolescents are exposed to violence at and around schools every year.

Hamda Mustafa