Last month, a 15-year-old student jumped off the 26th floor of his building allegedly after being bullied in an upmarket school in Kochi. In her complaint to the chief medical officer and the state police chief, the adolescent’s mother said that her son’s schoolmates bullied him for his skin colour, made him lick a toilet seat, and put his head into the commode and flushed it. Politicians of all hues are talking about the case and the state government is ordering a high-level probe; the police have registered an inquiry under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
This kind of case is not new in Kerala, where a few other students have ended their lives after being bullied by classmates. A final-year nursing student at the government college in Pathanamthitta died by suicide at her hostel a few months back. Her family, too, had alleged harassment by classmates. The case is still being investigated.
Though the latest incident has shocked the society, it is disturbing to see most schools in the state going into a denial mode—they have claimed an absence of bullying on their campuses. But in truth, bullying is a reality. The first step in addressing the trend would be to accept it exists. But one needs sensitivity training to clearly recognise bullying as such. The causes can vary and any student can be targeted regardless of gender, race, religion or socioeconomic status.
Bullying in schools and colleges is a systemic problem that needs to be addressed from all angles. As it can lead to long-lasting psychological and physical problems, it is important that teachers and parents learn to recognise and find ways to combat it. Students, of course, need to be sensitised too. Psychologists suggest that tightening anti-bullying laws and implementing them in schools, akin to anti-ragging ones in colleges, could help prevent it. School students’ young age complicates the problem and calls for even more sensitivity in dealing with such cases. Only then the issue can be addressed with due seriousness. Even though perpetrated by kids, bullying can destroy lives in more ways than one. We cannot just white-wash the deeper malaise after the immediate outrage.