1 in 4 upper primary school students have been bullied: Singapore study

SINGAPORE: A new study led by a National Institute of Education (NIE) researcher has found about one in four students in primary school experienced bullying, with a small number saying they were also bullies themselves.

The study, conducted in collaboration with the Singapore Children’s Society and the National University of Singapore, comes amid several videos going viral on social media of children and teenagers being assaulted in recent months.

The study – which has not been published yet and was peer-reviewed – involved 581 students in the upper primary levels aged 9 to 13, along with one of their main caregivers.

About 23 per cent of the children surveyed replied “yes” when asked if they were bullied in the last two to three months. 

The study focused on upper primary students due to a higher vulnerability in their age group in experiencing bullying. Data was collected between 2018 and 2019.

However, Asst Prof Cheung noted that parents often advise their children to ignore their bullies or tell their teachers about it.

Ignoring may not be the best solution because the bullying can continue to happen, she said.

“What is important for us to know is, if about half of the victims will actually tell the parents first, we want to be able to equip parents with some strategies that would help them support their children appropriately,” she pointed out.

These strategies include establishing clear lines of communication with the children, as well as finding out more about the underlying difficulties they face.

Asst Prof Cheung said: “I always tell people that bullying totally makes sense from a resource perspective. If you think about how a child would use their social status in terms of their popularity in school, in terms of their academic achievement, or the achievement in sports, these are things that would raise their social status in school.

“The question becomes: How do we guide our children to do it in such a way that is socially sanctioned, that doesn't hurt other people? So I think that is where the role of the parents would come in.”

SLAPPED, KICKED, PINCHED

Mr Sunny Ng and his wife Christina Tan were among parents who found themselves having to help their child.

They first noticed bruises and scratch marks on their 7-year-old last year but brushed it off as injuries from playing with others.

But the couple soon realised an abrupt change in their son’s behaviour. He would shout, throw tantrums for no apparent reason, and complain after looking at himself in the mirror.

“He told us that he’s really, really ugly; his ears are too big; his eyes are too shallow, his hair is messy, so on and so forth,” Mr Ng told CNA.

They eventually managed to get to the root of the problem. For three months, he had been bullied by his classmates who allegedly slapped, kicked and pinched him regularly.

The parents notified his form teacher and principal. The culprits were suspended and counselled, while their son – who only wanted to be known as Bibi – was transferred to another class. But when the bullying persisted, a police report was filed.

Mr Ng and Ms Tan also sent a letter of appeal to their Member of Parliament to have their son moved to a new school, where he is now doing well in Primary 2.

"Sometimes he comes and tells me, ‘Mummy, I don't have any friends at school. Nobody wants to friend me.’ So we really feel so helpless,” recounted Ms Tan in tears.

An ear injury sustained by Bibi from being bullied at school.

VERBAL INSULTS, GOSSIPING

Child welfare groups CNA spoke to said bullying is under-reported and is not limited to physical acts.

Emotional or relational bullying can happen anywhere, such as online, and can include non-stop racist remarks, name-calling, or verbal insults.

"What we do hear more of is actually the more covert ones, so in terms of like gossiping, spreading rumours, intentionally excluding somebody from the group chat, or in terms of like social group activities,” said Ms Vivyan Chee, deputy director and senior counsellor at the Singapore Children's Society.

This has a big impact on children and youth, who view being accepted as critical at their developmental stage, she added.

The organisation operates a helpline and chat service for primary school students, with bullying being among the top five reasons that children reached out for support.

Among youths in their mental health counselling service, Ms Chee said about 40 per cent reported that they were bullied.

Experts said technology exacerbates the problem, allowing bullies to stay anonymous online or even use deepfakes.

These unseen forms of bullying are why welfare groups said the number of cases could be higher. They said greater attention must be given to these insidious types of torment due to the long-term impact.

"How do I come out to say that I've been bullied when I have no battle scars? And is it a matter of me not being resilient, or am I really being bullied?” noted TOUCH Community Services’ deputy director Andrea Chan.

“So even for the victims themselves, they might have been experiencing it for some time that they no longer are able to differentiate whether it is bullying or whether it is lack of resilience on their part.”

While the prevalence of bullying has remained “quite stable” in the last one or two decades, Asst Prof Cheung said the acts are more widely circulated due to children having greater access to mobile devices.

NUMBER OF BULLYING CASES REMAINED “STEADY”: MOE

According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), the average number of bullying incidents has remained "steady" in the last five years.

For every 1,000 students, there were an average of two incidents in primary schools and six incidents in secondary schools annually, for any form of bullying and both inside and outside school.

On its part, MOE said it is continuously evaluating its anti-bullying approaches.

Character and Citizenship Education lessons where students are taught about boundaries that they should not cross, are in place, the ministry added. Students are also taught to look out for peers and teachers who are trained to deal with bullying, should they need to seek help. 

The police also conduct school talks regularly, engaging students in both primary and secondary schools on various topics related to youth offences, including bullying.

For Bibi, the boy who was bullied, he kept quiet about his ordeal for three months, and only managed to switch schools more than a year after the bullying began.

His father said that ensuring he could talk in any space and being candid with school leadership helped.

He and his wife also joined a parents’ interest group that gave useful tips, while Bibi’s new school set up a buddy system and created a safer environment for him.

“He said: ‘Oh Mummy, I can change school, I’m so happy’,” recounted Ms Tan.

“It’s a relief for him – at least temporarily. We don’t know what will happen in the new school. But thankfully, he’s very good now.”