Chennai: Peers help students to deal with cyberbullying

CHENNAI: When parents and teachers fail to wean students off the addictive mobiles and associated problems of online abuse and bullying, some city schools have found a new army to deliver the results: other students.
These schools use students of higher classes, who are obviously not phone addicts themselves, to handhold juniors to be moderate with screen time and remain safe. “We know that excessive phone time results in behavioural change in children. There have also been cases of cyberbullying and trolling which deeply impact young minds. We’ve realised that they are more receptive to peers than others,” said Bhavani Shankar, principal of Lalaji Memorial Omega International School at Kolapakkam.
Government Girls High School in T Nagar and Balalok Matriculation Higher Secondary School are among the other few schools that have peer-led interventions to raise awareness in this regard. Balalok has weekly meetings of students and teachers on the topic.