Stop Bullying!
Terence Pillay chats to actor and singer Emanuel Pietersen, who has embarked on a national anti-bullying at schools campaign.
Emanuel Pieterson was bullied throughout his school career. It started when he was about 8-years-old and carried on right until matric. Pietersen says his first experience of bullying occurred while he was still at primary school. And worse still was that the bully was a close friend who turned on him and ostracised him from his circle of friends. Rejected and alone, the ensuing years were to become the worst of his life.
Pietersen says he was bullied at school because he came from a poor family and couldn’t afford a lot of necessary school items, like a sports kit for physical education. Insensitive classmates would pick on him and this drove him to depression and major anger issues when he got to high school.
School bullying is a major problem in South Africa and has been made worse by the increased use of mobile devices and social media in schools, a recent survey claimed. Children have been hospitalised, criminal charges laid, reconstructive surgery had to be done and in once case, a child’s spine was so severely injured that the doctors didn’t give his parents much hope that he will walk again.
According to Parent24.com, “The Department of Education has a number of resources on bullying available for teachers, principals and school governing bodies. There is no regulation standardising anti-bullying procedures, but every school should have a code of conduct, outlining the steps to be taken when bullying is reported.”
But despite the department’s zero tolerance stance when it comes to bullying at schools and the school’s code of conduct, this scourge continues to plague South African schools.
Pietersen says he was bullied at school because he came from a poor family and couldn’t afford a lot of necessary school items, like a sports kit for physical education. Insensitive classmates would pick on him and this drove him to depression and major anger issues when he got to high school.
School bullying is a major problem in South Africa and has been made worse by the increased use of mobile devices and social media in schools, a recent survey claimed. Children have been hospitalised, criminal charges laid, reconstructive surgery had to be done and in once case, a child’s spine was so severely injured that the doctors didn’t give his parents much hope that he will walk again.
According to Parent24.com, “The Department of Education has a number of resources on bullying available for teachers, principals and school governing bodies. There is no regulation standardising anti-bullying procedures, but every school should have a code of conduct, outlining the steps to be taken when bullying is reported.”
But despite the department’s zero tolerance stance when it comes to bullying at schools and the school’s code of conduct, this scourge continues to plague South African schools.
Emanuel Pietersen now uses his experience to promote anti-bullying at schools around the country in an effort to eradicate the problem. He started the Resolve -Stop Bullying campaign, which is a Talk initiative that stands for tolerance, appreciation, literacy and kindness.
He is currently in KZN speaking to schools. If you would like to contact Emanuel Pietersen to speak at your school, drop him and email at [email protected]
You can also email Terence Pillay at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @terencepillay1 and tweet him your thoughts.