Social awareness of bullying towards differently abled students
Dr. Aleya Perveen
Differently abled usually refers to children who perform all activities normally but have some exceptional features in their activities. These characteristics are usually observed in them in terms of behavioral, linguistic, thinking, intellectual, and even social relations. Such children are born like other children in society, but they have problems in daily activities like talking, playing, reading, or socializing, so they are also known as autistic in society. However, children with autism are able to develop their talents to the maximum in a beautiful and safe environment. Not only in special schools, such children are also performing well in normal or mainstream schools. But it is sad that many of these special children are studying in normal or mainstream schools, but they are often subjected to abnormal behavior by teachers and students. Apart from normal pupils, the bullying problem has gotten so bad that autistic students and their parents frequently experience humiliation as a result of their children's inappropriate behavior.
Bullying refers to a type of unexpected or aggressive behavior that commonly occurs among school-going students. It is a form of verbal, mental, or physical harassment whereby someone is repeatedly harassed in various ways with the intention of causing emotional harm. Insulting or abusing a student, speaking bad words, threatening, biting, gratuitously pushing, throwing, punching, raising hands, belittling, not mixing with classmates, stopping talking, religion, Insults based on caste, race, or social status, demeaning through social media, using obscene language, trying to touch unexpectedly, sending lewd messages, etc. are different forms of bullying. More simply, school bullying is violent behavior by one or a group of students in a school against weak, polite, gentle students for the purpose of a deliberate and unnecessary show of power. In the draft policy of the School Bullying Policy-2019 of Bangladesh, bullying is defined as any student being physically or mentally harassed or physically hurt by another student inside or outside the educational institution. However, calling a student an insulting name, behaving rudely with him, or teasing or annoying him by repeatedly using a particular word are also included in school bullying.
Bullying's primary goal is to humiliate the victim (a normal or differently abled kid), typically by showing off to onlookers how strong they are. Bullying keeps the student or students in place, and this conduct actually produces a power disparity or asymmetry between the two parties. They usually don't have many friends. These students feel comfortable mixing with students who are older or younger than themselves. As differently-abled students are relatively easy-going, taciturn, less sociable, and weak-natured, they are naturally victims of bullying. In order to control such students, bullies or bullying groups do not allow other classmates to mix with them, make them stop talking, or even call them 'crazy', 'autistic', 'special children', or 'mentally ill'. Noting that some of the differently-abled students have special gestures (always waving, hands on cheeks, or jumping), he often distorts those gestures. Taking advantage of the simplicity of these special students, bullies or bullying groups sometimes do things that make them the laughing stock of other students. also compels any negative action. For example, if a bullying student says I won't tease or bother you anymore if you can bring me money from your mother's bag or father's pocket without telling them, To avoid bullying and follow instructions, these kids merely rely on what their peers say. They cannot protest against the bully. But due to repeated bullying, these special students became mentally disturbed very quickly. Become discouraged in your studies and lose interest in going to school.
One thing that is very clear in the case of bullying is that the bullied student, whether he is a normal student or a differently abled student, cannot accept bullying behavior in any way. They leave themselves alone. begins to be more withdrawn than at other times and does not want to socialize with peers. Already differently abled students may mix less with friends. At one time, he prefers to isolate himself from society and immerse himself in his own world, and later he begins to feel separate, unnecessary, and worthless. Some of the normal students who are victims of bullying even choose the path of suicide due to their inferiority complex. Some of the differently-abled students may get angry and cause any kind of accident. So it's time to stop bullying.
What educational institutions should do:
1. Creating an anti-bullying environment in educational institutions where not only general students but also special students do not feel helpless or alone. For this reason, we should form a bullying and ragging prevention committee in educational institutions according to the Bullying and Ragging Prevention Policy 2023. This committee will take all necessary measures to prevent any kind of injury related to suicide, bullying, and ragging. 2. A meeting with the class students once a month where differently abled students can also express their thoughts to the class teacher without fear. 3. Appointing a school counselor who conducts regular motivational classes for general students as well as counseling both bullies and victims of bullying. However, according to the Prevention of Bullying and Ragging Policy 2023, one teacher from each educational institution will be trained as a counselor through appropriate training. 4. In order to make good students as well as good people, arrangements should be made to take regular classes on ethics, humanity, values, etc. Apart from taking measures to take the oaths of students, teachers, and parents as per the Anti-Bullying and Ragging Policy-2023, educational institutions will seriously organize extra-curricular activities, including the screening of movies, cartoons, TV series on the evils of bullying and ragging, and workshops on online responsible behavior. 5. Special meetings and seminars should be organized by various personalities established in society, especially differently abled personalities. 6. In addition to campaigning about examples and consequences of bullying and ragging, a "Bullying and Ragging Day" should be observed once a year so that all levels of officials and employees, including teachers and students of educational institutions, also become aware of this issue.
Family Activities:
1. The first task of parents is to have trust and confidence in their children. Because parents are sheltered in faith from the beginning to the end of the child. 2.Bullied students (normal and autistic) need to explain how they can overcome this situation when their confidence or positive self-image is broken. 3. Parents will always keep in touch with their child's educational institution. 4. From childhood, the student should be inculcated with humanity so that he learns to give proper respect and dignity to the younger, older, or peers as human beings. Differently abled students also need to be taught socialization because they lack social relationships. Arrangements should be made to allow them to mix with different classes of people so that they can know and understand good and bad things. 5. Instead of video games, violent movies, or serials as entertainment, students should be exposed to educational toys, moral story books, swimming, or similar sports. In addition to normal students, differently abled students should be exposed to new places, local festivals, and culture so that negative factors like bullying do not affect them.
Others to do:
1. Social media and other forms of mass media, such as radio, television, newspapers, etc., will raise public awareness of bullying prevention. 2. Very soon, everyone will take mental preparation to know and comply with the Policy on Prevention of Bullying and Ragging in Educational Institutions-2023. 3. Strengthening and mobilizing the law and justice system against bullying 4.To make people of every class and profession aware of bullying and ragging. One thing we have to remember is that differently abled students cannot always express their thoughts or protest. So we have to speak for them and become their voice. Bullying is a very important social disorder that can be prevented by all of our social awareness and small steps.