Videos target school bullies

SCHOOL bullies are being targeted in a new campaign as figures show that one in 10 children is a victim - leading to poor school results, depression and even suicide.

The Education Ministry has released a series of Act Against Bullying at School videos which will be massively distributed on the internet via sites such as Facebook, Dailymotion and YouTube as well as being shown in TV ad breaks and at the cinema.

The video sites are important as they are often used to distribute videos of bullying and last year France signed an agreement with Facebook to delete the accounts of bullies.

Lasting around two minutes - with edited 20 second clips being shown in TV ad breaks - the videos show different aspects of bullying: from insults and physical violence to cyber-bullying using pictures recorded on mobile phones and spreading false rumours after a girl was molested.

Each starts innocuously with situations that every pupil - and parent - can recognise, with witnesses "looking the other way" but in each someone finally stand up for the victim.

They aim to "lift the taboo" on bullying and show how bullying starts in small ways but can have serious lifelong effects on all involved. A national survey found that one in 10 pupils has faced difficulties related to bullying and 6% have had problems rated as "severe" or "very severe".

Already this year a 12 year old girl has killed herself with her father's gun in a village near Lens, Pas-de-Calais after telling her family she was being bullied at school.

The Education Ministry has set up a website at Agir Contre le Harcèlement à l’École for pupils and parents to get more information.

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