The children ombudsman in Ireland said that an increase in bullying and sexual assault against children have been noted in schools. Dr Nial Muldoon had reported to the Oireachtas Education Committee that many schools are not properly equipped to deal with such bullying and assaults and had failed to report the child protection welfare issues. More than 400 complaints were received at primary and post primary level for the last 3 years.
Dr Muldoon had opined that the service of an independent counseller or therapist in every primary schools will make a considerable change in the number of the cases as they could provide training and support measures which strengthen the education and make the minds of children more bold. He thinks that this initiative would make teachers a bit relaxed and concentrate more on children on their behaviour and internal and mental issues.
They feel that anti bullying programmes may be very helpful to change the bullying culture in a school. The majority of children are not bullying but they stay shut when they witness it. Anti bullying programmes also makes the children speak up against this exploitation and thus it results in reducing the frequency of further bullying and it’s impact. It is the duty of TDs and certain authorities to educate children against bullying thus it becomes less acceptable in a school culture.