Friends and teachers asked to stand up against bullying.

Byline: Shazia Hasan

KARACHI -- The Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions in Sindh organised a day-long workshop on harassment and bullying at privately managed educational institutions at the Sindh Boy Scouts Association's provincial headquarters here on Thursday.

It was explained that bullying in educational institutions due to actual or perceived characteristics such as race, ethnicity, colour, disability, religion, etc, can violate others' civil rights as well as laws.

It has been noted that there is a lack of tolerance, patience, compassion and empathy in students and youth, who also often use derogatory language during conversations.

Speaking on the occasion, provincial Adviser on Law and Environment and spokesperson for the Sindh government Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that bullying and aggression was now a trait in Pakistani society. 'We watch aggressive people on television, we see people quarrelling on the roads and so politeness is slowly decaying in our society,' he said, while requesting the education department to emphasise proper education of civics in the curriculum.

Academician Shahpur Jamall shared an informative presentation showing that emotional and social development of students was also needed as much as teaching them regular subjects. 'They need to be informed about drug addiction, they need to be taught stress management and they need to be told about how to deal with bullying,' he said, going on to explain that bullying was when a child was repeatedly targeted.

'Many students lack tolerance, compassion, empathy and often use derogatory language'

'Usually it is the students of classes seven, eight and nine who go though bullying, especially psychological bullying. This is an age where children feel the need to belong but the bullying excludes or isolates them,' he said.

'For example, some students get together and start a WhatsApp group called 'Hate Abdul Group' in which besides adding all kids they have also added Abdul, who should really exit that group but he stays on it to hurt himself further. Maybe some of his friends have also been added and they don't say anything in the group but they ought to. These bystanders also need to defend him,' he said.

He also explained that bullying sometimes was different for boys and girls. 'Boys use size and strength to engage in bullying while girls are more subtle. They gossip, spread rumours and isolate the victim,' he said.

'School syllabus is...