Bullying may be rising in Indian schools in absence of any action

At least 40-50 per cent of children endure bullying in the institutional care of schools and private coaching centres across India, according to multiple UNICEF studies. Such perturbing statistics often get lost in the corridors of schools — dismissed as isolated incidents or buried under hackneyed whispers of “grow some thick skin, it’s part of growing up”. Yet, from time to time, the brutality resurfaces in ways that could put even William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ to shame.

Recently, an eight-year-old Dalit boy in Shimla was reportedly assaulted by three teachers who even put a scorpion in his pants. Earlier, in January, a 15-year-old student in Kochi took his own life after allegedly being forced by classmates to lick a toilet seat. Such cases may momentarily jolt the authorities out of slumber, but warrant deeper examination and intervention at both the psychological and policy levels.

Several developmental psychologists believe that by the age of six, a child begins to crystallise concrete attitudes towards other social groups and individuals, often underlined by caste, gender, religion and class. Consequently, children driven by inherent instincts for in-group favouritism may repeatedly target and harm those outside their social group to assert dominance.

Dr Damanjit Kaur Sandhu, head of the Department of Psychology at Punjabi University, Patiala, explains, “Children in North India usually bully to achieve social status. They attempt to act beyond their age through their dressing patterns, gadgets, or bikes. The underlying principle is moral disengagement, or a lack of empathy in the bully.” She also cautions, “If juvenile delinquency remains unchecked in a student, it can most certainly metastasise into adult crime. A comprehensive policy to curb bullying needs to be clearly spelled out by the government.”

The principal of a private school situated on the outskirts of Patiala notes that many parents from low-income families increasingly choose private schools for their children, lured by the promise of upward class mobility. Parents also often feel more comfortable “outsourcing their responsibility for the mental well-being of their child to a private entity”. This may intuitively make sense, as a senior teacher at a Punjab government school, who wishes not to be named, states, “There are simply no mental health counsellors or confidential complaint mechanisms to report cases of bullying in government schools.”

A common grievance of several educators from both private and government institutions whom The Tribune spoke to is the increased administrative workload under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. This, they point out, leaves little room for creatively engaging with children or constructively addressing cases of harassment.

In the same vein, authors Kusha Anand and Marie C Lall, in their book ‘Bridging Neoliberalism & Hindu Nationalism’, argue that the teachers’ dwindling autonomy and rising accountability have led to a shallow culture of performativity under the NEP 2020. Consequently, when viewed through the lens of bullying, the fault lines between private and government schools also begin to blur, as also highlighted in Nazia Erum’s ‘Mothering a Muslim’.

Erum found that over 100 of the 118 Muslim children she interviewed, aged between five and 20, had been bullied at some point in their schools or had been called a Pakistani or a terrorist. Surprisingly, these children were enrolled in 22 leading schools across South Delhi, Gurugram and Noida. Hence, several social psychologists note that one’s critical gaze cannot be confined merely to the lessons imparted in classrooms. It is the ‘hidden curriculum’ — a plethora of subtle rituals rooted in the ethnocentric re-imagination of the nation, be it assembly prayers, textbooks, or the selective celebration of certain festivals — that can contribute to inter-peer bullying and the systemic marginalisation of children from particular communities, even in the most elite schools.

Erum also highlights another menace rising alarmingly across schools — the phenomenon of cyberbullying, fuelled by the proliferation of smartphones among children and the growing focus on digital education since Covid. On cyberbullying, Prof Sandhu remarks, “It’s a new way to be anonymous, displace responsibility and often display animosity towards the opposite sex. I have seen cases of young teens in Ludhiana and Jalandhar who indulge in creating fake pictures through AI to blackmail and bully their female classmates. School authorities, parents and even the police try to brush these incidents under the carpet to avoid escalation or to preserve the future of their children.”

In all, bullying appears to be insidiously and rapidly festering in Indian classrooms. From classrooms to chatrooms, the message is clear — bullying, in all its evolving forms, demands urgent collective accountability.

In terms of interventions, Prof Sarla Dwivedi, a Chhattisgarh-based psychologist, states, “Mediation between children through role-plays, skits, or allowing them to express their emotions in a safe space has proven to be beneficial in several countries in countering bullying.” Prof Sandhu highlights, “We need a multi-pronged approach under which all stakeholders — including parents, police, lawyers and psychologists — help children realise the long-term ramifications of their actions on themselves and others.”

The most concerted efforts, experts stress, must be made at the policy level by the government to ensure a safe and dignified education for every child.

The Supreme Court’s constitution of a National Task Force in March this year, in the context of student suicides across higher education institutions, was a welcome step. It also issued 15 interim guidelines in July, which will remain binding until proper legislation is enacted to protect the mental well-being of children.

The apex court also affirmed that a student’s mental health falls under Article 21, the right to life. Therefore, it is an inherent duty of the government to ensure that whenever a child walks into a classroom carrying a school bag, there is also an invisible protective shield of fundamental rights and emotional well-being that must be preserved at all costs.