A non-governmental organisation, School Anti-Bullying Force, has trained over 250 counsellors across Lagos State’s six educational districts on tackling bullying in schools.

At the training held at the University of Lagos, the founder of the NGO, Mrs MarieCollete Kekong, said the aim was to not only eradicate bullying in schools but to also create a safe place where children could learn unhindered.

“The programme is to add to the knowledge these counsellors have. It is to teach them to help children identify bullying, eradicate it, prevent it and stand up against it,” she said.

Kekong said that the NGO was also setting up anti-bullying centres and School Anti-Bullying Force Clubs in schools across the state.

She said the idea of the club was that even children who are bullies could become anti-bullying heroes.

“When children are in a house, if they observe that their mum is either hitting their dad or shouting at their dad, they pick up all these behaviours.

“Children don’t listen to what you tell them, but they look at what you do. So they learn from the way you act with people around you, your spouse, your mates, your relatives, and children.

“They learn these behaviours and do it to their peers, Sometimes, it might not be the parents doing it to people around them, it might be parents even bullying their children directly.

“You know when you bully somebody, sometimes the bullied person might become a bully himself or herself,” she said.

At the centres, she said counsellors would also be trained on effective listening to children.

“Most times, some of these counsellors only know the theoretical part of counselling. However, there is the part where the child needs the one-on-one conversation, where the child will feel heard. That is the skill that we are trying to equip these counsellors with.

“It’s to help school children feel safe to open up to the counsellors and report bullying, wherever it occurs. It is also to teach these counsellors how to listen to these children and help them navigate bullying in schools.”

Kekong said that the NGO had treated over 100 cases of bullying in both public and private schools, adding that all the bullying cases that had been reported to it had been treated.

“We can treat those cases and we follow them through to the end. We ensure that we help rebuild the child’s confidence. We have also come up with an initiative called the ‘School Anti-Bullying Heroes,” she said.

The founder said that the NGO was considering ways to partner with the government to set up anti-bullying centres which children will see as safe places.

Kekong stressed that the centres are to be seen as places where bullied children could go and report the bullying, places where they could go and feel safe. “I want governments to partner with us so that we can set up those anti-bullying centres across the state and nation. She said that it was only using Lagos as a blueprint, adding that it intended to spread the initiative to other states and the whole nation.

Speaking, Dr Rita Kienka from Lagos State Education District 3, said that the state government had zero tolerance for bullying. He noted that counsellors were trained to curb the trait as much as possible. Kienka said that the training demonstrated situations in which children are being bullied and what could be done.

She said that in extreme cases, the state would take the bullied children out of such situations and put them in the appropriate places where they could receive therapy.

She pointed out that the state had social welfare centres where the government sends bullied children, adding that when these cases are extreme, the children are removed and taken to places of correction.

The district official urged the state government to have more counsellors in the schools.

On her part, Mrs Tolu Fapohunda, an educationist and counsellor, said bullying usually came from home. He said parents should be wary of what they do in front of their children. She said teachers must serve as role models and correct children in a loving manner.

Also, Coach Ope Bankole, a Personal Performance Coach, described bullying as an expression of someone’s internal insecurity towards another individual.