Bullying – A human rights abuse in selected Senior High Schools in the Birim Central Municipality

Abstract

In this study, the researcher examined bullying as a human right abuse in selected second cycle institutions in the Birim Central Municipality. To achieve this goal, the following questions guided the study. That is, what are the lived experiences of victims of bullying in Secondary Schools in the Birim Central Municipality? What are the effects of bullying experiences in Senior High Schools? and to what extent does bullying constitutes a violation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the affected students? Relevant literature was reviewed on the definition, types, and causes of bullying. Also, the effects of bullying as well as the extent to which bullying constituted a violation of human rights were also looked at. The study made use of the descriptive survey research design. Personal interviews and questionnaires were used as the data collection instruments. Furthermore, the descriptive statistical methods were used to summarize the data and get a description of the responses to questions. The findings of the study revealed that the lived experiences of bully victims fell mainly in the category of, Physical forms of bullying such as pushing, hitting, shoving, slapping and kicking. Verbal, Social or Electronic forms/categories of bulling were few. Male bully victims mainly go through physical forms of bullying as compared to their female counterparts who experienced verbal forms of bullying. Also, school absenteeism was discovered as a major effect of bullying, while minority of the bully victims contemplated on committing suicide after being bullied. Furthermore, it came out that one of the effective tools that can be used to promote the rights of bully victims is to dissolve student gangs and make Human Right Education part of the school curriculum. In order for Senior High Schools to control bullying and promote the fundamental human rights of bully victims, it was v recommended that Bullying Prevention Programmes should be established, monitored and evaluated; a multi-layered approach should be used in the implementation of bullying prevention programmes; student involvement should form a major part of bullying prevention programmes, and also, Human Rights education should be made part of the school curriculum.