'I had no escape': Bullying and teen aggression in Singapore schools
newsare.net
SINGAPORE — The torment began when she started Primary 1, and ended only when she left the school two years later. New to a popular all-girls’ school, a seven-year-old quickly became a target of bullying by more than one group of her peers. A few pupils'I had no escape': Bullying and teen aggression in Singapore schools
SINGAPORE — The torment began when she started Primary 1, and ended only when she left the school two years later. New to a popular all-girls’ school, a seven-year-old quickly became a target of bullying by more than one group of her peers. A few pupils spread rumours that she had cheated in her exams, while another threw rubbish into her school bag, crushed her homework, licked her snacks and hid her stationery. A teacher took away an award she had earned for doing well in an assignment because of remarks that other girls had made, and she had to put a padlock on her bag to protect her belongings. «I noticed something was wrong when my daughter was crying more often,» said her mother, Rachel Tan (not her real name), a housewife in her early 50s. Tan and her daughter both struggled to raise these encounters to teachers or the school, as there was no hard evidence. And when Tan tried to talk to a teacher about the rumours other girls had spread, nothing came of it. At one point, Tan had to help her daughter practise how to defend herself in school. «I imagined helping her practise for oral exams, but not to stand up to her bullies.»
03:45
03:24
15:50
