Bullying in Early Childhood:

Bullying is a serious problem that affects the young children’s life

course. Teatchers find it so difficult to manage bullying in the school.
Researchers show that peer aggression is more frequent among preschool
(ages three to five) and kindergarten children than any other age group
(Hanish et al. 2004 as cited in Saraho, 2016). The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) now recognizes bullying as a major public
health problem and provides support for measuring bullying behaviors.
Stories of bullying in schools and juvenile suicide caused by bullying are
common in the news, with the latest focus being on cyber bullying.
(Knapp,Shane, Sasaki-Hill et al, 2015).

To understand the concept of bullying, we need to know both the

definition of school bullying. One of the most definition known that was
developed by the Norwegian researcher Olweus (1973). He states that ‘‘a
person is being bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly over time, to
negative actions on the part of one or more other students (Olweus 1993, p.
9As cited in, Saraho, 2014).Bullying is intentional, repeated, aggressive
behaviour intended to hurt, scare, or humilitate the victim and gain power
over him or her. There are four main types of bullying: verbal bullying,
physical bullying, social bullying, and cyber bullying....

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Ways and Means of Bullying:

VERBAL:
• Accounts for 70% of reported bullying.
• It is easy to get away with.
•If condoned it becomes normalized and the target dehumanized.

PHYSICAL:
• Accounts for less than one third of the incidents reported.
•The physical bully is the most troubled and the most likely to move on to
serious criminal offenses.

RELATIONAL:
 Includes ignoring, isolating, excluding and shunning.
 Is unseen and hard to detect.
 • Includes stares, rolling of eyes, sighs, frowns, snickers and hostile
body language.
There are 7 types of bullies:
1. THE CONFIDENT BULLY:
• Has a large ego and a sense of superiority.

• Has a sense of entitlement.

2. THE SOCIAL BULLY:

• Uses taunts, rumors, gossip and shunning.

• Is jealous of the positive qualities of others.

• Hides their poor sense of self.

3. THE FULLY ARMORED BULLY:

• Is cool and detached.

• He is vicious and vindictive to his targets and charming and

deceptive in front of others.

• Has a flat affect.

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 4. THE HYPERACTIVE BULLY:
• Struggles with academics and does not process social skills
accurately

• Has trouble making friends.

• “He hit me first.”

5. THE BULLIED BULLY:

• Is bullied by adults or older kids.

• Strikes out viciously at those who hurt him/her or are smaller or

weaker.

• Is the least popular of the bully types.

6. THE BUNCH OF BULLIES:

• A collective group of friends who want to make one person their
scapegoat or wish to exclude that person.

• Usually perceived as “nice kids”.

7. THE GANG OF BULLIES:

• A group drawn together in pursuit of control, domination,
subjugation or power.

• Lack empathy and remorse.

• Have disregard for their lives and, therefore for the lives of their
targets. The bully counts on bystanders becoming involved in or
supporting the bullying or at least doing nothing to stop it.

'While young people who bully others are not always aware of how
much their behavior bothers the victims, most of them have some real-
ization that intended victims do not like what is happening to them.
Australian researcher, Ken Rigby (1996), calls this “malign bullying”- the
bully evidently enjoys what he is doing, while the victim feels a sense of

oppression or powerlessness. Malign bullying has seven ele- ments: There

is an initial desire to hurt. The desire is acted upon. Someone gets hurt. A
more powerful person or group hurts someone less powerful. There is no
provocation. The behavior is typically repeated. The bully enjoys hurting
the weaker person(as cited in: Harris &Petrie,2003) "

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 Children exposed to bullying may present with physical as well
as psychological symptoms, and experience negative effects lasting
into adulthood.One important reason to evaluate child's's
experiences of bullying and being victimized by perpetrators is their
significant association with a range of mental health problems such
as in creasing risk of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and
attempts, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) (Cheng-Fang, et al, 2014).
Researchers have identified a variety of biological and
environmental factors implicated in bullying. For example, children are
likely to be victimized if they are anxious and isolated from their peers,
their parents experience depression and conflict, or their parents use an
authoritarian parenting style at home (Beran & Violato, 2004; Loeber &
Dishion, 1983as cited in: Tanya &bonnie, 2005).

Moreover, Many researchers have reported gender differences in

bullying, such that boys tend to be both bullies and bullied more often than
girls . These findings, however, are inconsistent with the results from a
Canadian study of 4,743 children in which no gender differences on either
bullying or victimization emerged (O'Connell et al., 1997 as cited
in:Beran & Tutty, 2002).

The Five Kinds of 21st Century Bullying:

Threats
The intimidation involved in simple name-calling does not seem to have
sufficient impact today for bullies, so they move beyond that point to
specific threats against the safety of others.

Profanity
The issue of public profanity directed to another person, and an overall
lack of civility is an important component of the bullying issue in our
society. The bully’s communications often escalate from name-calling to
overall profane statements intended to both threaten and diminish the self-
esteem of the victims.
Cyber Attacks Some young people in America today have graduated from
one-on-one interaction to the ability to commit computer-based attacks
against multiple people. The New American Bully has at his or her disposal
an arsenal of interactive ways to attack many individuals without remorse
at the touch of a button.

Hazing

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 To understand the impact of hazing on our society, it’s important to view
it as a continuum that often starts long before the traditional college
fraternity hazing or even the kind of hazing that despite increased scrutiny,
exists in military training. Hazing occurs as early as elementary school
where children are asked to join clubs and continues into youth sports,
middle school and high school and on into college.

Assault
Authorities in recent years have brushed off many social confrontations,
labeling them “bullying incidents,” even when assault and battery has
occurred. Fortunately, this is rapidly changing. The negligent reaction to
physical force creates victimization and diminishes accountability. Never
dismiss assault as bullying. Call it out for what it is. (as cited
in:Kipper&Ramey(

Some Warning Signs of Bullying

 Has difficulty concentrating in class and is easily distracted
 Wants to take a different route to school or different transportation
to school
 Has a sudden lack of interest in school - sponsored activities and
events Has a sudden drop in grades
 Seems happy on weekends, but unhappy and preoccupied or tense on
Sundays
 Uses “victim” body language — hunches shoulders, hangs head,
won’t look people in the eye, and backs off from others suddenly
prefers the company of adults.

 Has frequent illnesses (headaches, stomachaches, pains) or fakes

illness
 Suffers from fatigue
 Has nightmares and insomnia
 Comes home with unexplainable scratches and bruises
 Suddenly develops a stammer or stutter
 Has a change in eating patterns
 Seems overly concerned about personal safety; spends a lot of time
and effort thinking or worrying about getting safely to and from
school and getting around in the school (to and from lunch, to and
from recess, to and from the bathroom, to and from the lockers, and
so on)

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  Talks about avoiding certain areas of the school Carries protection
devices, such as a knife, box opener, fork, or gun (see Chapter Four
for a discussion of weapons)
 Frequently asks for extra money (supposedly for lunch, school
supplies, and the like) Possessions are often “ lost, ” damaged, or
destroyed without an explanation
 Has a sudden change in behavior (bed - wetting, nail - biting, tics,
and so on) Cries easily or often, becomes emotionally distraught,
and has extreme mood swings Cries herself to sleep Blames herself
for problems and difficulties (Beane, 2008)

Another Characteristics of Victims Derived from

the Psychological Literature:
Victims are likely to:

 Suffer symptoms of depression.

 Experience suicidal ideation

 Suffer feelings of loneliness.

 Have low self-esteem.

 Suffer from anxiety.

 Suffer from psychiatric problems

 Suffer from eating disorders.

 Be less popular than other children.

 Perceive friendship-making as diffcult.

 Spend a lot of time alone.

 Have parents who allow few opportunities to control social

circumstances (intrusive demandingness).

 Have less-responsive and less-supportive parents.

 Have a parent-child relationship marked by intense closeness.

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  Have parents who are more involved in school activities.

 Come from harsh home environments.

 Have suffered child abuse.

 Experience physical health problems (sleep problems; bed wetting;

headaches; stomach aches; neck, shoulder, or back pain; fatigue).

 Have problems with school adjustment (doing well on schoolwork,

following rules, doing homework).

 Have problems with school bonding (desire to do well at school, be

happy at school, take school seriously.

 Have greater rates of absenteeism. (Dake, Price &Telljohann, 2003).

If we don't support children to speak out, if schools aren't responding

appropriately and if parents aren't supported to speak out about these

issues, then children don't tell anyone about bullying and there can be a
really serious impact on mental health. Annals emphasis that "Techniques
to help students get out of these bullying roles vary by the developmental
status of the students, as well as the developmental status of the system
itself. Victims and bullies usually require multiple interventions involving
multiple adults (school staff, parents, clinicians) that focus on coping skills
(including problem solving, emotion regulation, anger management), social
skills training, attention to treating psychiatric disorders and trauma-related
symptoms, and/or academic support" (Annals,2013)

The role of family:

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 "..My mother is a very sweet old lady. All my life I’ve tried to avoid
upsetting her because she has been through so much. I only learnt how to
say ‘No’ at a recent family reunion. So it’s not surprising that I found it
hard to say ‘No’ to everyone else. I allowed them to bully me."
Children are a reflection of their family. They inherit genes,
predispositions, attitudes and behaviours that affect their likelihood of
remaining resilient in the face of bullying or increase their likelihood of
becoming a target, a bully or both. Let’s look at this major influence on
their behaviour.

Rigby (1996, p. 74) reported that boy and girl bullies described their
families in some of the following ways: My family does not sympathize
with me and understand when I Members of my family are not encouraged
to work together in My father does not care about me or accept the sort of
person I am. Honesty is not important in our family. We do not feel free to
express our opinions in our family. We do not consider each other’s
feelings. feel sad dealing with family problems (as cited in: Harris
&Petrie,2003).

Even when children begin school, those who are more frequently vic-
timized often (Rigby 1996): Are physically less strong than others
(particularly so with boys) Are timid Are introverted Have low self-esteem
Have few friends. (as cited in: Harris &Petrie,2003)

Bullying is a learned behavior. Home is where kids get their first lessons in
moral education. There are 3 types of families:

• The Brick Wall Family:

For this family power = control. These families are great training ground
for bullies.
1. The parent has absolute authority, enforces order and always wins.
2. Rigid enforcement of rules by means of actual, threatened or
imagined violence.
3. Attempt to break the child’s will and spirit with fear and punishment.
4. Use of humiliation.
5. Extensive use of bribes and threats.
6. Heavy reliance on competition.
7. Learning takes place in an atmosphere of fear.
8. “Love” is highly conditional.
9. Teach what to think, not how to think.

• The Jellyfish Family:

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 These families can help create a bully, a vulnerable target or a bystander.
In this type of family a permissive and laissez-faire atmosphere prevails.
There are 2 types of Jellyfish families: A) cannot set boundaries and
structure for the children. B) The parent physically or psychologically
abandons the children. Punishments and rewards are arbitrary and
inconsistent. Second chances are arbitrarily given. Threats and bribes are
commonplace. Emotions rule the behavior of parents and children. “Love”
is highly conditional.

• The Backbone Family:

These parents do not demand respect, they model and teach it. They
provide consistency, firmness, fairness and a peaceful structure. Promotes
perseverance, generosity and optimism. Democracy is learned through
experience. Discipline is handled in such a way as to promote inner
discipline. Mistakes are viewed as opportunities to learn. Rules are clear
and simply stated. Consequences are reasonable. Children get second
opportunities, not arbitrary “second chances”. This means they are given
an opportunity to try again after they have experienced the consequences of
blowing it the first time. The children are motivated to be all that they can
be. There are lots of hugs, smiles and humor.

1. Kids learn to acknowledge and honor their feelings. They also learn
that they do not have to react to every emotion.
2. Love is unconditional.
3. Children are spoken with, not to, listened to, not ignored.
4. The family is willing to seek help if needed.

Children are a mirrored image of their family. They inherit genes,

predispositions, attitudes and behaviours that have an effect
on their probability of remaining resilient within the face of bullying or

increase their probability of turning into a target, a bully or each.

Let’s study this major influence on their behavior.

 The deluxe model:

The democratic family functions best with the stresses of today’s
society. kids receive encouragement, praise, rewards and consequences.
during this family, activities and duties, skills and difficulties are mentioned
overtly and frequently. kids are detected and revered. They find out how to
debate issues and the way to get facilitate in finding them.. These family

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systems have firm, fair, clearly established boundaries and tips. If kids
break the foundations and hurt others, they face consequences.

Siblings
A childisaffected by her positionwithin the family and the ages ofher
siblings.A significant age gap between the siblings positions the younger
one to become a ‘pseudo-adult’, overprotected but socially neglected. She
confronts less competition and fewer responsibilities, and has less
opportunity to develop assertive social skills. Single children may lack the
social survival techniques that come from daily skirmishes with siblings.

Parents’ ages
several parents are having kids later today, because of re-marriage
and career reasons. though older parents could have more time, they
usually treat their kids as equals: they need less energy to ascertain firm
behaviour boundaries, and that they become lax, overprotective or
overcontrolling. Generally, older parents mix with their friends unless
they'll socialise with others who have kids of comparable ages, thus their
kids have less chance to combine with their peers, however relate well to
adults.

The family jigsaw

Parenting is disrupted once there's just one main parent. Separation,
divorce, re-partnering and stepsiblings additionally disrupt traditional
parenting and discipline patterns. the kid could feel vulnerable, confused,
angry, guilty and abandoned. Her self-esteem is down and she or he has
less energy to cope with school issues. Thechild whospends time with each

parents has got to suits completely different parenting styles, as well as the
handling of loveanddiscipline. Some childrenrelyupon one parent however,
not like different youngsters, they can’t afford to worry their main
caregiver. they need fewer boundaries however less chance to challenge
their sole parent, and therefore to develop self-assertiveness skills.

Grandparents :
Some children are raised mainly by grandparents. Unfortunately,
grandparents can confuse the child and sabotage the parents’role. They can
overprotect and indulge, but provide fewer boundaries and less discipline.
Inadvertently, this lowers a child’s self-esteem and her ability to handle
difficult people. If grandparents are traditional, overcontrolling and less
flexible, they won’t provide opportunities for the child to challenge them,
which is essential for an assertive, confident child.(Field, 2007)

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Positive Tips for family
- Explain the Rules Have consistent family rules and consequences
for breaking rules.
- The rules should be firm, friendly, fair, enforceable, and age
appropriate.
- Explain your behavioral expectations and the reasons for each rule.
- Tell your child that the rules are not meant to restrict her, but to
make sure she gets the best that life has to offer.
- The rules are designed to give her freedom from conflict, anger,
heartache, and unhappiness.
- It is important that you be consistent in enforcing the rules. Then be
a good model by obeying them yourself.

The following are some examples of family rules. Examples of Family Anti
- Bullying Rules:
 We treat others the way we want to be treated.
 Bullying is not allowed in our home. We don’t tease, call names, or
put people down.
 We don’t hit, shove, kick, or punch.
 We listen to each other's opinions.

 We treat each other with kindness and respect.

 We respect each other’s property. (Beane, 2008)

School Environment:
‘We have to send the message that no one should go to school in
fear” -David Brooks, president of the Newport-Mesa Board of Educa- tion
(Bowles 2001, 4A) (as cited in: Harris &Petrie,2003)

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 Table 1 dispels the long-held notion that bullying occurs
among young children and diminishes as children age. Rather,
children continue to describe feeling bullied in greater numbers
as they reach middle and high school. )as cited in: Potter, 2013)
As Table 2 shows, what does change is how children
report being bullied. Physical aggression tends to be
replaced by more insidious verbal aggression as taunts,
name-calling, and laughing at students. In addition, as
children become more proficient with computers and
media, they use that tool as a way to establish dominance
over others and/or to align other students against
particular students.)as cited in: Potter, 2013)

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Stephenson and Smith, and Elliot, have discovered a variety of factors in
the school environment that may contribute to bullying. Following are
some of these factors:
 Low staff morale
 High teacher turnover

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  Unclear standards of behavior
 Inconsistent methods of discipline
 Poor organization (in classrooms, on playgrounds, and so on)
 Inadequate supervision (playgrounds, halls, toilets, cafeterias)
 Children not treated as valued individuals
 Not enough equipment (gym class, playgrounds, classroom, labs)
 Lack of support for new students
 Teachers being late
 School personnel leaving classroom during class time
 Intolerance of differences
 Teachers pointing and shouting
 Allowing hurtful graffi ti to remain
 Discouraging students from telling on others
 No anti - bullying policy No clear procedures for reporting and
dealing with bullying incidents
 Bullying ignored by school personnel
 Narrow, dark halls
 Crowded locker rooms
 Lack of support for students with special needs
 School personnel who use sarcasm
 School personnel who humiliate students in front of peers
 No space for quiet activities.(Beane, 2008)
One another side, It is important to understand how teachers
define bullying and why more experienced teachers recognize fewer types
and frequencies of bullying behaviors. Moira & Karne indicates the need
for sensitivity training for teachers and students to identify all forms
of bullying behavior and strategies for enhancing bullyingintervention
efficacy (Moira & Karne, 2016).

What teachers should do?

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 Teachers can play an important role in antibullying programs and
should be seen as targets of intervention.

There is much evidences on the effectiveness of peers in preventing

bullying. But there is also evidence suggesting that teachers might be less
effective in this regard. For one thing, they may not be aware of bullying.
For example, it has been found that teachers intervene in only 4% of
bullying incidents on the playground and in only 18% of bullying incidents
in the classroom. This may be because bullying often takes place on the
playground, in hallways, in lunchrooms, and other places where teachers
are not around. Teachers may also fail to take action: Even when they were
judged to be aware of bullying, they did not intervene in one out of four
cases. Thus it is no surprise that victims often perceive teachers as unable
to protect them. Research has also shown that students are concerned that if
they report bullying incidents, their reports may be dismissed as
unbelievable, or that peers will find out, which could result in reprisals
Another possible reason that teachers are ineffective at reducing bullying is
that they often do not perceive bullying in the same way as students. For
example, teachers may not identify relational aggression as bullying, or
they may perceive it as being less serious than physical and verbal bullying.
Teachers also often believe that bullying is part of a normative
developmental process, and they expect victims to handle it on their own.

Understanding how teachers’ responses to bullying (in the eyes of

students) affect the likelihood of bullying occurring may be critical for the
development and successful implementation of a whole-school antibullying
prevention program. For students, the attitudes teachers display can signal
ways to act appropriately. If teachers are seen to be efficacious, they are
likely to prevent bullying. Teachers’ efficacy correlates highly with their
antibullying attitudes. If teachers exert effort to decrease bullying, they can
also help students to keep up the antibullying classroom norm by
strengthening their goal to act appropriately. In classes where students
clearly perceived that their teachers exerted a great deal of effort to battle it,
students’ own antibullying attitude was less strongly related to bullying.

Also, students’ own effort to decrease bullying was more strongly related to
peer-reported bullying in classes where students perceived teachers to have
low efficacy and to exert a great deal of effort to stop it (Veensrta, et all.
2013).

The role of society

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 Our hyperindividualist, hyper-self-reliant, hypercompetitive culture
causes students to often end up alone and lonely. Their attempts to combat
the loneliness—to find connection, support, and belonging—often end up
feeding the bully society. Students tell each other their secrets with an
interest in gaining closeness, a special friend, advice—yet in many
schoolstheir special private moments morph into “juicy gossip” and
become a form of information capital that other students use to increase
their own social standing. Students hope to find friends, people they can
trust and rely on, and instead find that with one “wrong” move they are
excluded, isolated, and teased. They learn early that it is “immature” to
trust others. Girls and boys both start to explore their sexuality, hoping to
find intimacy and fulfilling connections—and again they are often met,
instead, with cruel slut bashing, gay bashing, ridicule, and ruined
reputations.)Klein,2012)

One the other hand, In the absence of authentic self-expression and

relationships, we become accustomed to the irrational foundation on which
our lives are structured and accept some unacceptable ideas: that this is as
good as it gets; that competition is better than cooperation; that things are
more important than people; and that inequality makes more sense for a
society than equality. Similarly, while we purport to favor positive school
environments that support children’s potential, we still consider it normal
and inevitable that our children feel terrorized and tormented on a daily
basis. Lenny recognized the function that bullying serves and explained to
me that he thought bullying was “normal.” ”Everyone gets bullied,” he
said, “or at least gets tested.” “This is a capitalist society,” continued
Lenny, who never finished high school but now runs a successful business.
“You have to take out your aggression. If you don’t have money, you’re not
anything. You can’t do anything, can’t take care of your family, can’t
handle life the way you want to.” Many youth recognize the damage done
by bullying and have even experienced it themselves but nonetheless

completely accept it as an intrinsic and inevitable reality, just as they accept

the value system that spawns it. This acceptance traps them in a prison
without walls. (Klein,2012)

Popular Bullying Treatment Interventions:

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 With serious and violent incidents of bullying occurring
across the world daily, prevention and intervention programs have
become a top priority for a majority of schools districts and schools.
School and family psychologists alike have also treated children in
an effort to stop their aggressive bullying behavior toward others. The
treatment interventions for bullies range from school prevention
programs to therapy.

The first step of the Olweus Bullying Prevention program is to

distribute the Bully/Victim Questionnaire in order to assess the
specific problems each school environment is having (Olweus, 1993).
The program is set up to function at 3 different levels, if necessary,
depending on the population it is being applied to. First the
prevention program could function at the school level. On the school
level, the program requires that a conference day be held about the
topic of bullying and that school staff, certain parents and students,
and the school psychologist could participate. At this meeting, a plan
of action for a bullying incident would be discussed. As another part
of prevention at the school level, an adequate number of adults
would be required to supervise children during their break times
because it provides less opportunities for bullying to be unnoticed.
Additionally, Olweus recommends that a contact telephone be
established in each school. This would be a number that students
could call anonymously in order to speak to a school counselor,
psychologist or teacher about their situation. In addition to these
measures, parent teacher groups could be organized in which
information, such as any relevant literature on bullying, would be
presented to the class. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program was
also designed to function on the class level. As the first step to
create a better classroom environment, Olweus suggests establishing a
set of specific rules against bullying. He suggested 3 specific rules

as a starting off point: “1. We shall not bully other students 2. We

shall try to help other students who are bullied 3. We shall make a
point to include students who are easily left out” (Olweus, 1993, p.
82). Olweus believes that praise should be given to those who follow
the rules, and those who do not follow the rules should be punished
in some way. In addition to class rules, Olweus believes that class
meetings should be a regular occurrence. These meetings would
involve the teacher and students sitting together, preferably in a circle,
discussing some of the social situations occurring in the classroom for
an hour or so. In order for prevention to be successful on a class

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level, students should be assigned a few group tasks throughout the
month. This way the students can be split into separate groups and
work together towards a common goal, all being dependent on each
other for a good evaluation. Olweus suggests that this promotes
healthy relationships and apositive peer environment. In addition to
rules and discussions about bullying, the class should also have
occasions in which class parties or field trips are held. This way, the
focus is not on discipline and rules but rather having a positive time
with classmates and peers. The last part of the Olweus Bullying
Prevention Program functions at the individual level. Olweus suggests
that once a bully is discovered, he or she should be dealt with
immediately. He explains that meetings with the bully’s parents can
be arranged in which they collectively attempt to come up with a
solution to halt the bullying behavior (Olweus,1993). Additionally,
groups facilitated by a group leader can be set up at the school in
which parents of bullies and victims can discuss the situation at the
school. As a final resort, Olweus suggests a change of school may be
necessary for the bully in order to split him or her from other peers
that trigger or encourage him or her.

Another one of the more popular and common school programs

being marketed across the U.S. is known as the Bully Busters
Program (Newman-Carlson & Horne, 2004). The program developers
had reviewed years of prior research regarding children and
aggressive behavior. They came to the conclusion that a school
implemented prevention program would be greatly beneficial because
of the fact that children learn aggressive behavior when they are in
an aggressive environment. Therefore, if the aggressive environment

were minimized, bullying behavior would also decrease. The

developers had also come across research pointing to the importance
of the child and teacher relationship. This research described the fact
that many students that were consistently bullied had an inadequate
relationship with their teachers and as a result, teachers ignored their
concerns (Swearer & Doll, 2001). The Bully Busters Program is
specifically aimed at increasing teachers’ awareness of incidents of
bullying and how to handlesuch situations (Newman-Carlson &
Horne, 2004). The program consisted of seven modules, including:
Module 1: Increasing Awareness of Bullying Module 2: Recognizing
the Bully Module 3: Recognizing the Victim Module 4: Taking
Charge: Interventions for Bullying Behavior Module 5: Assisting
Victims: Recommendations and Interventions Module 6: The Role of

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Prevention Module 7: Relaxation and Coping Skills. (Newman-
Carlson & Horne, 2004, p. 261)

Bullying in Egypt:

One of the few studies is showed that about 60% of students in

Egypt and one-third of students in Libya, Morocco and Tunisia reported
having been bullied in the past month. In all 4 countries, boys reported
more peer victimization than girls. In Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, students
who reported that their parents checked their homework, were
understanding, and knew how the student spent free time had a reduced
likelihood of peer victimization but this association was not significant in
Libya(Abdirahman H, et al. 2013).

Egypt recentlly has launched a national anti-bullying campaign in

schools, with TV advertisementsand social-media materials all drawing
attention to the need to face bullying through the country’s children. This
campaign launched under the auspices of the National Council for
Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) and in partnership with the Ministry
of Education and Technical Education (MOETE) and the UN children’s
agency UNICEF with funding from the European Union as Amaina Khairy
mentionedby her journal articlein Alahram Newspaper.

Shebarely touched on two issue; the media how creates our attudies
tword bullying "…Bullying is deeply rooted in some schools, and it may
be almost socially accepted. A quick look at TV dramas in Egypt shows
that bullying somebody because of the way he or she looks is regarded in
some circumstances as funny. Obesity, skinniness, having a dark skin,
dwarfism, being too tall or too short, having thick glasses or other
physical features are seen as acceptable reasons to laugh. Even old age
can be treated as a source of mockery or cynicism." and the formal arabic
language used in speaking about this matter which is hardly
inappropriate"..The campaign uses the Arabic word tanammor to
translate bullying, however, and the problem here is that this word,
though grammatically correct, may be unfamiliar to many Egyptians.
According to the dictionary, tanammor means acting or looking like a
tiger (nimr). A tiger is known for using cunning in order to launch its
attacks. Bullies, it is thought, do the same thing."

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On the same line, it is showed that Egyptian newspapers emparked on
talking about this problem in these days. As example, Bullying has been a
cause of suicide for many young children and adults in the world, but in
Egypt people started to know the dangers of bullying recently in the news.
By example, Iman Saleh, an 18-year-old student, committed suicide by
throwing herself out of the fourth floor of her institute. Amina’s mothersaid
on the DMC evening program that three female supervisors at the health
institute abused her daughter and ridiculed her skin colour, hair and shape,
saying that she looks “like a boy”. Alas, when the mother informed the
director of the institute, their response was that the supervisors “were
laughing together”!

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