21/11/2005

Minister welcomes anti-bullying forum

Education Minister Angela Smith has welcomed the launch of a Northern Ireland Anti-bullying Forum.

The Forum brings together many statutory and voluntary agencies to tackle the issue of bullying. Speaking at the launch, which was held in advance of Anti-Bullying Week, the Minister said: "We all know how profoundly damaging bullying behaviour can be and we know that this is a problem in all our schools. Tackling this problem requires commitment and sustained long term effort from all of us working in partnership.

"The establishment of this Forum, drawn together by a shared concern and a shared desire to do something positive to tackle the problem of bullying; will provide a comfort and re-assurance to pupils, parents and schools' staff.

"We cannot tackle the problem of bullying in schools in isolation. In supporting schools to deal with the problem we need the support and expertise of Forum partners from across the statutory and voluntary sectors."

Recent research, carried out by the University of Ulster, found that 40% of primary pupils and 30% of post-primary pupils had recently been bullied while 25% of primary and 28% of post-primary pupils said they had bullied another pupil. Name calling was the most common form of bullying in both primary and post-primary schools.

(MB)

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