A video of a female student being bullied by her male classmate is currently circulating in China. The two are students from the Shanghai University of Sports (SUS) and local reports suggest that SUS is keeping the violent incident under wraps, with addressing the root cause of the problem.
A Culture of Bullying?
According to an OpEd article by the Global Times, the teacher to whom the victim approached after the incident, instructed her to keep silent and not to talk to the police authorities.
After the video caught the attention of Chinse netizens, the school administrators were compelled to reach out to her and offer a resolution. However, some reports said that the school simply demanded that she delete the video.
In China, schools tend to act more as mediators during such incidents, lacking more punitive measures for students who are fond of instigating trouble.
Verbal warnings or condemnation from teachers is commonplace for bullies. Cases of proper sanctions are rare. Given the complacent approach to such incidents, bullied victims are left with few options.
Preventive Measures
Other schools in China should learn from this incident, and make an effort not to repeat the mistakes of SUS school administrators.
The Global Times article mentions that schools should launch a student counseling center and a confidential telephone line where students can report physical and verbal assaults.
Overall, a pro-active approach towards bullying and a more transparency will mitigate the occurrence of future incidents. Such an approach will also empower victims to reach out and inform authorities about bullying incidents and to deter bullies from exploiting gaps in schools' efforts find a solution.
According to data released by China's Supreme People's Procuratorate, between January and Nov. 2016, the number of prosecutions related passed the 2,300 mark. This figure does not take into account the potentially greater numbers of unreported violent incidents.