Government Takes Action Against Cyber-Bullies

The Teachers’ Unions are backing moves to abolish ‘cyber-bullying’ due to new figures showing a third of 12 to 15-year-olds suffer online. Internet bullies have been targeting networking sites like MySpace, YouTube, Bebo and Facebook to taunt their victims when the school gates are closed.

The Government has said it will be introducing new measures to clamp down on the abuse. Cyber-bullying has been happening for years, but only now are the government actively taking a step to stop it. The moves comes as more and more teachers are finding themselves the victims of bullies who send them abusive messages or e-mails.

Mary Bousted from the Association of Teachers and Lecturer’s has shockingly revealed that one in five of her member had complained of cyber-bullying during the past year.

“All schools and colleges should have policies to protect their teachers and support staff from cyber-bullying, and should make a commitment to fully support anyone who is a victim.”

A new online campaign called ‘Laugh At It And You’re Part Of It’ will hit teenage networking websites for six weeks, with short films being available for teachers to screen in classrooms.

Schools will also be guided on how to have offensive or malicious material removed from websites and equipment confiscated.

Cyber-bullying is the worst possible type of bullying as it means that the victims are available to the bullies everywhere and anytime. It’s good to see the government finally take a stand, hopefully we can put a stop to this before more teenage tragedies through bullying occur.

If you are being bullied, or know someone who is then visit www.bullying.co.uk for more information and advice.

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