Assistant Commissioner of Police Hulan Hanna said bullying has always been an issue among students, however, he said it has now escalated to more serious schoolyard fights and called on parents to begin curbing this dangerous behaviour in the home.

ACP Hanna addressed the issue while speaking to primary school students at Queen’s College on Wednesday morning during a workshop called Primary School Rocks.

“Parents must take control of their children and teach their children that the way you feel about yourself is generally the way you expressed yourself about others,” he said.

“If you feel badly about yourself, you’re going to see others in the same mode so what parents need to do in my humble opinion is to simply teach their children positive values and teach them how to affirm themselves. When they feel good about themselves and can affirm themselves, then we would have less tension, less hostility, less disrespect and disregard for others in the wider community.”

The Christie Administration reintroduced school policing in the public school system in 2012 to assist faculty with providing a safe environment due to the alarming levels of violence that have occurred in Bahamian schools.
ACP Hanna said that adults and in particular those in leadership positions throughout the country must lead by example.

“We’re seeing this across the strata of our community were adults speak to each other poorly, professional people speak to each other poorly, in the home, in the church wherever it is and that is very unfortunate,” he said.

“Characteristically and traditionally we are such a wonderful people, where is this coming from? We need to look at this again and it has to happen from our leaders to those persons in the home.”

He went on to commend the school for the student workshop which he called “fantastic,” applauding Queen’s College for doing its part to ensure that students do not become a problem for law enforcement.

Head of counselling at the school and coordinator of the annual workshop Vivian Brown said students are encouraged to not only excel in education but also in their social behaviour.

“The workshop basically addresses topics that are of concern to them,” she asked. “Prior to the workshop, the students were asked to do a pre-workshop assessment in terms of what they would like to talk about.

“A lot of them don’t understand the full meaning of bullying so we want to educate them so they could tell their parents and also develop techniques and skills to deal with it so this is an open workshop.”

The workshop also focusses on motivating, helping students to transition to the next grade level and assisting in the overall development of each child.

Eleven-year-old sixth grader Kyla King said she will now be an advocate for anti-bullying.

“I learned that it’s not good to bully because you’re just reacting on yourself and hurting others,” she said.