My Longkang

At Sakura Higashi Junior High School on the outskirts of Tokyo, the face of a 15-year-old girl who killed herself after she was bullied fills the large screen on the stage in the school hall. Every single pupil has been brought into the hall to hear from Kasumi Komori’s mother.

As they are shown images from Kasumi Komori’s life, the children watch in silence. Some of the girls are clearly upset. More so when Kasumi’s mother stands up to address them. Midori Komori travels around Japan trying to raise awareness of bullying and what can happen if it is ignored.

One of the teachers, Masaharu Kurihara, explains that they have made sure every pupil is present because he says “bullying can happen any time, anywhere, to anyone”. Every adult has to teach children not to do anything they don’t want their friends to do to them.

But it is a difficult problem that most schools struggle to deal with.
The students complain that bullies are part of school life here in Japan.

Anna Takahashi is 15. “I think there’s bullying everywhere,” she says. “I think it is a difficult problem. It is hard to spot bullying or to know how much it is hurting someone.”

A string of recent suicides by schoolchildren in Japan has forced Japan to focus more attention on the problem. Five killed themselves in four days in November. Bullying was blamed in just about every case.

Bullying is not a new problem in Japan or Malaysia. Schools have to ask themselves if they are doing enough to prevent it. For Midori Komori, the mother who lost her daughter when she committed suicide after being targeted by bullies, it is pretty obvious what needs to be done.

Everyone - teachers, parents and other adults - should work together to tackle the problem, she says.

“Every adult has to teach children not to do anything they don’t want their friends to do to them. If we can teach our children that I think we will no longer see bullying in our society,” she says.

In a Malaysian context an experienced teacher and principal, Pauline is quoted as saying the important thing thing is to talk it out : Child-to-child ( Peer Mediation ), Teacher-to-parent ( Parent-Teacher Association ), teacher-to-teacher ( in school ),and parent-to-child at home. Everybody need to work together to solve this problem.

At the end of the day, we must not forget that teaching students how to handle bullies is also important. Teach them survival skills. Try out some role-playing, where they take turns acting out situations where play both bullies and victims. This will show them how it feels and give them ideas on what to do to help thenselves and others.

Apart from all these, let students know the school is willing to listen and eager to help. Parents please listen with an open mind and focus on understanding. Allow children to express how they feel and treat a child’s feeling with respect.

Finally, teaching children to take responsibility for their own actions
will make for healthier children with healthier self-esteems and thus there will be no need for any ‘bullies’ or ‘victims’ in the world.