A new anti-bulling policy that the Education Ministry is in the process of formulating may cover all educational institutions in the country, instead of just schools, Barrister Aneek R Haque said.
He made the comment after a hearing on a suo-moto rule to formulate policy Wednesday.
On December 4 last year, the High Court Bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahsan and KM Kamrul Kader issued the suo-moto rule to formulate the anti-bulling policy, following the suicide of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College student Aritry Adhikary. On March 5, the Education Ministry formed a seven-member committee to work in this regard.
At Wednesday’s hearing, the same High Court bench reviewed the progress in formulating the policy. Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, Aneek R Haque, Advocate Jesmin Sultana and Aynnubahar Siddique were present at the hearing, while Deputy Attorney General ABM Abdullah Al Mahmud Bashar represented the state.
“The draft policy that the High Court reviewed only talked about schools. We told the court that bullying does not only take place in schools, and asked for the policy to be expanded to all educational institutions,” Barrister Aneek told Dhaka Tribune.
He added that the court listened to the lawyers’ recommendations, but did not issue a written order. Furthermore, the court ordered for a legal expert to be included on the committee.
DAG Bashar said: “The court has instructed me to forward the recommendations from the hearing to the committee. These include expanding the policy to cover all educational institutions, as well as the set up complaint boxes to ensure students can file complaints without fear.”
The court has ordered the Education Ministry committee to submit the draft proposal on October 22, he further said.
<What is bulling?>
According to the draft policy, bullying can be defined as hurtful aggressive behavior, repeated over a period of time, with it being difficult for victims to defend themselves.
Bullying can be carried out physically, verbally, emotionally or through cyberspace.
Direct forms of bullying include physical violence and threats, verbal assaults and taunts, the destruction of property, extortion, and unwanted sexual interest or contact.
Examples of indirect forms of bullying include ignoring and the withdrawal of friendship, isolating, excluding, cyber bullying, malicious gossip and spreading rumours, and abusive or oppressive graffiti.
The draft policy further said bullying may take place for many reasons or for no apparent reason, although there is usually a real or imagined difference. The difference may be related to race, health, religion, culture, social class, family circumstances, or gender and sexual orientation.
Bullying may take place between students, between adults or between students and adults. None of these forms of bullying or intimidation is acceptable, the draft policy added.
