Bullying in educational institutes is a concerning issues in almost every country of the world, but unfortunately the malaise receives little or no attention in Pakistan. With the increasing decline of parental interference in schools, bullying in educational institutions of Pakistan has increased significantly in the last five years. In order to know the consequences of bullying in Pakistan we discuss the basic understanding of what bullying is, its reasons, types, legality and above all, the measures Pakistani students can take to avoid bullying at educational institutes.

What Is Bullying?

Disparity of social or physical supremacy distinguishes bullying from normal conflict. All over the world, bullying is a notorious act, where people repeatedly or habitually use physical strength to inflict physical or emotional harm to or threat others. This perceived or real power imbalance due to various reasons empowers some people to harass or threat others both physically and verbally, which is resultantly called bullying. Both who bully and are bullied by others may have serious physiological problems in the long-run and may need additional care and attention to break free of the harmful effects of bullying, whichever end of this social disease they are.

Reasons Of Bullying:

Per a latest report, Pakistan takes 22nd place in a list of 25 countries studied for a research on the rate of bullying. There are numerous reasons researchers consider the root cause for a person or a group of individuals bullying others. These include race, religion, social class, sexual positioning, appearance, physical or mental strength, size or aptitude, social conducts, gender, body type, character, and in many cases social reputation.

Types Of Bullying

Researchers have been studying this abnormal behavior of humans for years and find that bullying can be diverse in nature, which is why bullying has been categories in the following ways:

• Physical Bullying
• Cyber Bullying
• Prejudicial Bullying
• Sexual Bullying
• Verbal Bullying
• Social Bullying
• Relational Aggression

Common Types of Bullies in Pakistan:

• Bullying Victims
• Group Bullies
• Indifferent Bullies
• Popular Bullies
• Relational Bullies
• Serial Bullies

How Pakistani Students Can Deal With Bullying & Bullies:

In the diverse cultural ethnicity of Pakistani society, bullies come in many types, groups, shapes and dimensions. Most of the Pakistani students have had to deal with a bully or a group of bullies as child or as an adult. Recent reports reveal that one in four children in Pakistan have faced bullying at least once at some point during their academic life.

It is the responsibility of government, educational institutes and civil society to spread awareness about how students can deal with bullies.

But as there is a serious dearth of the same, here are some tips students of every age can use to counter bullying at educational institutes

Strive With High Self-Esteem

High self-esteem is the key coping with adversity. It not only stops the cycle of bullying but also helps you see the positivity in worse situations.

In order to deal keep your sanity and self-esteem intact, follow these simple rules of thumb:

• Do not show that you feel hurt

• Walk away with dignity as if you do not care

• There is always safety in numbers, try to walk with friends

• Don’t argue with bullies

• Laugh off the bully’s antics

Intensify Your Strengths:

In many cases bullies feel comfortable preying on targets who they perceive as weak. So developing a counter-combat impression can help discourage them. To become a deterrent for bullies:

• Gain combat or defensive skills

• Walk with a confident stride

• Keep your head held high

• Remain aware of your surroundings

Stop the cycle of bullying:

Many bullies use a mixture of different strategies to emotionally, verbally and even physically abuse you. Despite whatever the type they are using, try to understand the approach and things that trigger them. Stopping the cycle is very important if you want to avoid this behavior of bullies.

• Find the ways they use to bully you
• Instantly complain to the authorities
• Do not be embarrassed to talk about the situation
• Gain help or help others who are in the same situation
• Ask people to join you in your fight

Bullying in Pakistan is a serious issue, but it can be solved or at least can be reduced if our government, educational institutes, teachers and religious scholars play a healthy role to teach students about it.

Also Pakistani media, along with social media activists, should step up efforts to highlight this social ill and launch regular public awareness campaigns on bullying in schools, colleges and universities.

A person bullied always feels he or she is the only one who is being bullied. In fact there are thousands of others in Pakistan as well as around the world that face this hardship each day.

Staying strong and not letting someone’s mental ill-health affect you is the key.

We really hope that this article helped you a little in coping with bullying. Maybe it will help others as well if you share it with your friends. We would love you to give us feedback in the comment section.