Bullying and thoughts – Kommersant Ufa

Deputies of the Bashkortostan Parliament together with colleagues from the State Duma discussed the problem of bullying in schools. The meeting participants studied statistics and stated that teachers are increasingly becoming targets of bullying and this is aggravating the staffing problem. According to the meeting participants, at the first stage it is necessary to develop a framework federal law that will include the concepts of bullying, victim and aggressor, then each region will be able to build up its legislative base.

On Thursday, a meeting of the working group on preventing and combating bullying among schoolchildren was held in the Kurultai of Bashkiria. The working group was formed in May of this year with the participation of representatives of executive authorities, internal affairs, heads of educational organizations, deputies, and the parent community.

The moderator of the meeting, State Duma deputy from Bashkiria Elvira Aitkulova, prefacing the discussion, noted that school psychologists and teachers do not always cope with the toxic atmosphere in schools, and parents often cannot influence their children. Increasingly, teachers themselves are becoming targets of harassment and bullying, the deputy stated.

“According to surveys, the majority of our university graduates do not want to go to work at school, not because they are not interested, not because they are embarrassed by the salary. The most common answer is that we don’t want to work with parents.

We don’t want to deal with elements of bullying. The very emotional atmosphere in many schools today repels our teachers. We understand that in this situation, the personnel shortage will only increase,” emphasized Elvira Aitkulova.

Today there is no normative definition of bullying in the legislation. Many such episodes remain unaccounted for, which leads to underestimation of the negative phenomenon, and school teachers lack the competencies to respond in a timely manner and extinguish growing conflicts, Ms. Aitkulova said. According to the deputy, the State Duma is discussing the introduction of administrative penalties for concealing facts of bullying.

Human rights activist and State Duma deputy Yana Lantratova noted that the number of cases of bullying, child suicides, and school shooting is growing. According to surveys, 57% of children and 70% of teachers were bullied, and 28% of children who were bullied at school face mental disorders in 10-15 years, the deputy cited statistics.

In her opinion, schools need to allocate funding to attract specialized specialists in difficult situations. To begin with, Ms. Lantratova noted, it is necessary to adopt a framework bill in which to spell out the concepts of bullying and bullying, to define the subject and object of bullying, the concepts of victim and aggressor.

Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Bashkiria Inessa Kosolapova reported that according to the results of a survey of 123 thousand students, 37% responded that they had to deal with bullying, and 11% of respondents became its victims. The main forms of bullying were insults – 26%, humiliation – 16%, cyberbullying – 8%.

Over the past year, the Ministry of Education of the Republic received 15 official complaints about bullying, this year – 25. On-site inspections were carried out in schools based on them.

According to Ms. Kosolapova, a pilot AIS system “Deimos” has been developed and is being implemented in Bashkiria, in which each school has a personal account. The system analyzes student accounts on the VKontakte social network, verifies data and enters information into personal accounts, which school psychologists have access to. If we are talking about possible school shooting, the information goes to law enforcement agencies. Students and parents can also anonymously report the situation at school. “Thanks to the system, we can understand what the situation is in which municipality, go out and provide targeted assistance,” noted Inessa Kosolapova.

Former Minister of Education of Bashkiria, deputy of the Kurultai of the Republic Aibulat Khazhin commented on the high-profile incident at the Ufa Motor Transport College in early September, where a teacher wrapped a tape around a student’s mouth. He called the actions of two students who, having agreed in advance, provoked her to such actions and filmed her on her phone, were deliberate bullying of the teacher. As a result, the teacher left the college, the deputy said.

The former minister admitted that there are not enough professional psychologists and teachers in schools. “About 65-70% of schools have school psychologists. But half of them are people without professional pedagogical education; they have only undergone additional training,” said Mr. Khazhin.

“The status of teachers needs to be raised. Very soon we will pass the point of no return,” noted the director of the Ufa boarding school No. 1 named after Garipov, Ilnur Salikhov.

Concluding the discussion, Elvira Aitkulova said that modern parents themselves undermine the authority of teachers, for example, by criticizing their appearance and behavior at home.

The deputy suggested that Inessa Kosolapova think about solving this problem. “No matter what we do within the education system, if a child comes with the attitude from his parents that he is the boss here, and those who are unlucky work in schools. I hear conversations like that too,” Ms. Aitkulova emphasized.

Representatives of district education departments, who were asked to express their opinions, refused to speak.

“We will continue to work,” summed up Elvira Aitkulova.

Vlada Shipilova