The Ministry of Education has launched its second National Bullying Prevention Week campaign running from November 18 to 24 in conjunction with World Children’s Day.

The aim of the initiative is to equip students, educators and parents in the UAE with the skills needed to address bullying.

The campaign has been launched in collaboration with the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood and in partnership with more than 25 local and federal entities.

Throughout the week, trained educators and consultants will visit public and private schools to facilitate a number of workshops, lectures and awareness events regarding the actions which can be taken when bullying is encountered in schools and the community. Workshops and lectures will be complemented by social media, cinema and TV advertising campaigns to share the strategies which students and their parents can follow when they encounter bullying. A significant focus of the campaign will also be allocated to raising awareness around how to help students to stop bullying others.

Due to the critical role parents, educators, family members, adults and the community play in fighting bullying, it’s key to let them know that each individual that witnesses or is aware of a bullying incident has a social responsibility to speak up, intervene, show solidarity with the victim or even report to the concerned authorities if necessary.

The Ministry calls on the community to be aware of how to identify if someone is being bullied, how they should intervene to break the cycle of bullying, and how to provide support and care to the victims to ensure a safe and bullying-free learning environment. During the campaign, the Ministry along with its partners will demonstrate effective interventions that have proven to be successful in preventing or resolving bullying.

As part of the campaign’s activities, four anti-bullying animated films have been developed and will be screened across the UAE. The films, each around one minute in duration, demonstrate various bullying scenarios and the methods parents can adopt to deal with the situation. In addition, activations will be organised at public and private schools around the UAE during the week to engage children, emphasising the virtue of‘kindness as an alternative to bullying.

To further raise awareness, the National Bullying Prevention Week campaign will hold a special event at Global Village on November 22 (6pm-7pm) where children, their parents and the public can view anti-bullying animated films, meet characters from the campaign and experience various anti-bullying activations.

Commenting on the continuing initiative, Jameela Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Public Education, said: “The activities surrounding the second National Bullying Prevention Week highlight our common values and the efforts the ministry is making to eliminate bullying across the UAE.”

“By providing students and parents with the tools to prevent, identify, and deal with bullying we can ensure that our schools are considered a safe place by all students, and where their emotional development and educational performance flourish,” he added.

SOURCE : GULFNEWS