Yeronga State High School Takes Action to #endcyberbullying

In a bid to prevent incidents of cyberbullying, Yeronga State High School is actively engaging in the youth-led #endcyberbullying campaign, which was officially launched at the school in March 2019.

The launch coincided with National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence and Hon. Grace Grace, Minister of Education and Minister of Industrial Relations, was at the event to support the campaign as part of the government’s commitment to end cyberbullying.

The event featured a 30-second video starring 14 Yeronga students.

“The social media video has a thought-provoking message designed by students for students, including language and emoji icons commonly used by teenagers,” Ms. Grace said.

The video will be shared across all Department of Education social media platforms.“On today’s National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence, we’re sending a strong message to Queensland school students to ‘Report it. Block it. No more bullying’,” Ms. Grace said.

Yeronga SHS was deemed as the natural choice to help develop and launch the campaign because of its zero-tolerance policy for bullying of any kind. With about 70 countries represented in the school, the school strives to promote the value of harmony through tolerance of diversity.

School Principal Terry Heath said that the school was thrilled to be involved in the #endcyberbullying campaign.

“Our students believe passionately in social justice and promote harmony as a core ingredient to living in safe environments where bullying has no place,” he said.

Cyberbullying

A cyberbully uses technology to repeatedly hurt, embarrass or frighten individuals.

Cyberbullying can take the form of threatening or abusive texts, tweets, emails or Facebook posts from someone you know or from a stranger. You are being cyberbullied when someone shares embarrassing information about you or when they post unflattering or private videos and photos to humiliate you. Being trolled, stalked online or even left out of online games or social forums are other forms of cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying has become more dangerous than offline bullying because an online post can now reach many people with one click.

Also, since bullies can set up fake profiles with fake names, they are not easily identified. So the lack of immediate feedback or consequences makes bullies more daring.

And unlike offline bullying where the victim can escape his tormentors within the confines of the home, cyberbullying can be invasive, putting pressure on the victim 24 hours a day through his gadget.

How to Stop Cyberbullying

The #endcyberbullying campaign wants to let students, teachers and parents know that there are actions that they can take to end incidents of cyberbullying.

The Queensland government came up with a list of resources on their website to help each of them deal with cyberbullying. The resources seek to enlighten students on how to respond and create an anti-cyberbullying action plan.

Parents are provided with valuable information, tips and advice on how to keep their child safe online. Teachers can also have guidance on a range of classroom materials to instruct students about the campaign and ensure that kids have a safe and disciplined school environment.

Among the actions that children and adults can do include deleting, blocking or reporting posts that look like cyberbullying.

To know more about cyberbullying and help prevent it, visit https:bullyingnoway.gov.au or https://www.qld.gov.au/education/schools/health/bullying.