COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Issue 5: Bullying
A) Bullying in Singapore
Bullying may be defined as physical, emotional, and/or psychological abuse
and/or mistreatment of vulnerable individuals or groups. This issue is of
concern to the Tamil community. A recent spate of reported bullying shows
that it largely occurs within schools. Videos of bullying in schools were
uploaded and shared across social media platforms, raising concerns amongst
students, parents, educators, and government officials.
A local survey by Microsoft in 2012 revealed 83% of students aged 8 to 17
years were bullied online and/or offline. 58% admitted to have been subjected
to negative experiences online which was higher than the average of 37%
amongst 25 countries. Similarly, according to a 2015 study by the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an average of 25% of
Singaporean students reported being bullied regularly. Common examples of
bullying included ostracization, slander, theft, and threats.
Based on these studies, bullying is a problem in schools and cyberspace.
Though there are numerous efforts to educate teachers, parents, and students on
cyber-bullying, its frequency remains high. We need to review existing
programs to tackle cyber-bullying in Singapore.
It is also important to note that while bullying is an acknowledged problem,
there is a lack of research on the relationship between bullying and
ethnicity in Singapore. There is also a dearth of research on the gap between
reported and unreported cases of bullying in Singapore.
Source: OECD (2017), PISA 2015 Results (Volume III): Students’Well-Being, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264273856-en
Source: Microsoft Corporation. (2012). Online Bullying Among Youth 8-17 Years Old – Singapore(Rep.).
Retrieved http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/8/4/E84BEEAB-7B92-4CF8-B5C7-7CC20D92B4F9/WW
Online Bullying Survey - Executive Summary - Singapore_Final.pdf
Maathi Yosi | 2019
25