An inside look: How Nigerian schools handle bullying.
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00:00Bullying is the use of threat or force to intimidate or pull someone down.
00:12The word bullying is when someone repeatedly or intentionally do something to hurt another,
00:27in order to show his own supremacy.
00:33Bullying can take place any place.
00:37It can take place between students to students.
00:40It can take place between a parent to another parent.
00:43It can take place between a parent and their children.
00:47It can also take place between a teacher and a student and between a teacher and another
00:53teacher.
00:54So it happens everywhere.
00:55I was bullied by my step-sister, who is older than me.
01:00She was angry that her teacher came and I didn't call her.
01:04So she decided to beat me.
01:06I was crying.
01:07I told my teacher to remind me not to tell my mother.
01:10They said they would take the matter off.
01:12They took the person to beat him.
01:14Now he is coming to beat me.
01:16One of the major factors that causes bullying is...
01:22It has to do with the upbringing of a child.
01:26The upbringing of a child.
01:28So it depends.
01:29If a child actually develops in a violent place,
01:33the child will definitely beat the habit of bullying.
01:42When he is in the midst of what other students are in other places.
01:49Yes.
01:50Some of them are actually suffering from inferiority complex.
01:54So in a bid to measure up to other students,
01:58they tend to bully others so they can gain acceptance.
02:02And some of them, it's from home.
02:05Cases where the father beats the mother or the mother beats the father.
02:09So they inculcate that they grew up with that thinking that it's the right thing to do
02:13to beat or bully others.
02:15We've handled numerous bullying cases.
02:18We have...
02:20There is one that has to do with two boys.
02:25And what actually happened is...
02:28When the bullying case happened,
02:31the boy, being someone that is very assertive,
02:35and being someone that is very assertive,
02:38he has the disease to gather people to himself.
02:42So whatever he says in the class,
02:47and people do respect his opinion.
02:49So but eventually we know that he's very assertive,
02:53but in order to turn it around to become...
02:56Which leads to bullying.
02:58When bullying a student, whenever he tries to use abusive words on the student,
03:03others will follow.
03:05Yes.
03:06So it got to a stage where the other student was so down that
03:11even when you ask him to go to school, he doesn't feel like...
03:14So now we're not looking at it. What is wrong?
03:17This boy has not been like this.
03:20So when I investigate, we're able to find out that,
03:23okay, this is what has been going on in their class.
03:25So we actually invited the two students.
03:29After hearing from both parties,
03:32their parents were involved.
03:34And when we involved the parent board,
03:37the bullied guy, his parents,
03:40eventually took it to the other way around and said,
03:43if you are suspending my student, my child,
03:46you should suspend the other one.
03:48And I said, we can't do that.
03:50What we are doing, the suspension is not...
03:52Even if you allow us, we allow him to what?
03:54To serve the punishment here.
03:56Not corporal punishment, just a punishment to remove his life.
04:00So that he can realize that he has made a mistake.
04:03So but eventually, at the end of the time,
04:07the parent took the charge. You know, it's a private school.
04:11So we were unable to get to the bottom of the matter.
04:16We've had several cases,
04:18one of which the student came up to actually complain.
04:22And we had some cases where other students
04:25actually complained because they could not bear it,
04:28they could not tolerate it, and they don't have the voice
04:31to actually complain or tell the bully that
04:34this thing we are doing is not good.
04:36So some had to come and tell the teachers,
04:38Oh, please don't mention my name.
04:40Don't tell him I'm the one that told you.
04:42And there's also many other cases like that.
04:44Cases where students take each other's provision,
04:48they collect from them forcefully.
04:50And we've had cases where students are told to
04:54fan another all through the night.
04:57Or we had other students who washed the wares
05:00and uniforms of some certain set of students.
05:03I think one we've had was just extreme beating.
05:08And it led to expulsion of the students.
05:11I was around 11, 12.
05:14He was in my house, by my lesson teacher again.
05:17He was actually just beating me and saying some things
05:21that were detrimental to my psychological health.
05:24Mostly because I failed some of the questions
05:27in the subject he was teaching me.
05:29Well, I lost confidence in myself, basically.
05:33I just shut my heart to that particular subject
05:36that he was teaching me.
05:37He didn't tell my parents about it.
05:39Yes, I was scared.
05:40I felt safe at school because
05:42my lesson teacher was not a teacher in my school.
05:45It only happened when I'm around that particular teacher.
05:48But I was okay in school.
05:49Well, I think it's not right, first of all.
05:52And the society at large plays a huge role in,
05:56you know, taking care of it, basically.
05:58Because it leaves some kind of psychological effect
06:01on their victims.
06:02So that's how I feel about it.
06:06We have a committee, constituted by the school,
06:10to manage student and their misbehavior.
06:15And maybe, probably because in our school we have a,
06:20we call it, let me say the school,
06:23it's like the school rules.
06:26So what we gave them was
06:28there is zero room for tolerance, for bullying.
06:31Zero tolerance for bullying.
06:33We have a mentorship program
06:35where teachers are assigned to like five or six students
06:39and you meet them at different times, individually.
06:43Over time, we've seen this to work
06:46because students are more comfortable
06:49talking to the teacher individually.
06:52And we incorporate parents into this mentorship program.
06:56We let them know who is mentoring their ward.
06:59So with that, most children
07:02feel comfortable talking to their parents.
07:05So parents will communicate
07:07whatever the children tell them to the teacher.
07:10With that, we've actually reduced the cases of bullying.
07:14And when there are consequences too, for bullies,
07:18students feel comfortable to speak out
07:21and also tell when they are bullied.
07:24I want to say this to all students
07:28or all, whosoever that has experience with bullying.
07:33Don't be dejected.
07:36Don't allow that to bring you down.
07:39So what I want to say is
07:41no matter what anyone says to you,
07:43in as most, that is not what
07:45you yourself has conceived in you.
07:47Just neglect it. Don't let it.
07:49Except if it's becoming physical bullying.
07:52Once it's become physical bullying, then go and report.
07:54If someone is saying anything negative to you,
07:56just move ahead.
07:58If you are not feeling comfortable with it,
08:02move closer to teachers that you can confide in
08:04or move closer to people that you can confide in
08:06to help you out.
08:31Thank you.