No place for bullies in school

Dubai: Sending a strong message against bullying, Al Hesn Private School in Al Muhaisinah has decided to expel the eight pupils who allegedly beat up a grade five boy last month.

The nine-year-old Emirati boy, Yousuf Yaqoub Abdul Rahman, was allegedly assaulted by students from higher classes, when one of them mistook Yousuf for a boy who had allegedly insulted his sister.

According to the school’s vice-principal Aisha Ali Saif Bel Jafla, the pupils — five Emiratis, a Syrian, an Iranian, and another pupil of unknown nationality — have admitted to their guilt.

She said that the school has asked the parents of the accused pupils to find another school at the end of this academic year.

“The eight boys were not expelled from the school, but we have asked their parents to find other schools,” Bel Jafla said.

She added that the school is helping the families in securing school admissions and so far, except for three pupils, all of them have managed to get seats.

The decision was taken to serve as warning for the students involved in the incident, and to also make it clear that the school will not tolerate breaking of rules and regulations, stressed Bel Jafla.

“We were not asked by authorities to do so, but we feel this is in the best interest of the children.”

The school was rated as unsatisfactory for all of the four rounds of school inspections held by the KHDA.

After this year’s inspections, KHDA asked them not to register new students, until the issues raised in the inspection are addressed, she said.

“So this decision is better for the children.”

When the new academic year begins, the school hopes to establish a stringent policy against bullying.

“The most important aspect for a school to improve is [to get] backing from the management. If that is lacking it becomes an impossible task.”

The incident took place on May 15 and following a complaint by the victim’s father, Yaqoub Abdul Rahman, police have so far interrogated six of the accused.

Yousuf, who is a kidney patient, had suffered bruises and one of his ears was damaged in the assault.

Mental scar

Understandably, since the incident, Yousuf has been very disturbed and wakes up every morning crying and refuses to go to school.

“Whatever happened to my child is really terrible. He is still terrified and doesn’t want to go to school. He is even scared to meet children from outside the school. He comes running back if somebody approaches him,” said Abdul Rahman.

He added that Yousuf is being forced to go back to school only to complete his final exams following which he will be moved to another school.

“I’m planning to move all three of my kids to another school as I’m scared of my children’s safety after the incident. The fact that they didn’t even bother to inform me after the assault or didn’t administer first aid to Yousuf, shows how much they care,” added the angry father.

Experts against expulsion

Experts on bullying point out that the best way to deal with aggressive violence is through the process of restitution, repentance, and resolution.

According to Dr Onita Nakra, educational psychologist and counsellor, American School of Dubai, Restitution involves fixing both the physical damage and the personal damage, she explained.

“Repentance leaves no room for excuses — They made me do it ... its not saying sorry.”

“You cannot force repentance on someone else. Repentance is not a goal in itself, rather it is a byproduct. It comes about only when the persons have worked through the whole process of reconciliation.”

Dr Nakra said that schools must provide the platform for these students to work out this entire process of reconciliation.

Resolution means finding out a way to keep it from happening again. The students involved have to be able to figure out what they actually did, why they did it, what they can learn from it. True repentance means they will come up with a plan to ensure it will not happen again, she added.

Spate of violence

Several incidents of violence and abuse in schools have come to light over the past few weeks.

Gulf News reported last week that a grade one boy was allegedly flogged repeatedly by a schoolteacher. She was later suspended by the KHDA until investigations are complete.

In another incident an Emirati mother claimed that her seven-year-old son suffered brain damage after a teacher allegedly banged his head against a wall. The KHDA is currently investigating the case.

But the case that shocked the nation was that of 11-year-old Loujain Hussain, who was in a coma for two weeks after being allegedly assaulted by four boys in her school in Abu Dhabi last month. Loujain’s parents are still awaiting a verdict on the culprits.
KHDA was unavailable to comment on the issue.