Government has been called out for paying lip service to the scourge of bullying.
Following on the heels of a recent worrying spate of acts of aggression by juveniles with one allegedly leading to the death of a pre-teen, one of the island’s top crisis intervention agencies is deeply concerned that the Mia Mottley Administration is not putting words into action.
Chief Executive Officer of Supreme Counselling for Personal Development Shawn Clarke has even asked the administration how many more lives must be destroyed or be made to suffer at the hands of bullies before the “wickedness” is taken seriously.
“I need to know how many more examples we need to have before the authorities take bullying seriously enough to really do something about it as opposed to just paying lip service. That is my concern,” said Clarke, whose organisation runs the Olweus Bullying Prevention programme in a number of schools.
Clarke, a Bullying Prevention Trainer and consultant, referred to ten-year-old Demarco Gibbs who died last night, weeks after allegedly being struck on the head with pieces of wood by four playmates.
He also referenced the cyber bullying of a primary school boy who made a mistake while being interviewed by the media immediately after emerging from sitting the Common Entrance Examination.
The specialist in Human Resource Development and counselling also cited last week’s unprovoked physical assault by two boys on several homeless men as worrying examples of bullying.
Clarke, whose organisation provides counselling and mentorship services for persons in Barbados and throughout the Caribbean experiencing substance abuse and family and behavioural problems, said more pre-teens are now coming for help.
“What I see is the young people coming to the agency are in keeping with what is happening overseas…meaning they are coming at younger ages. We are still seeing the 14, 15 and 16-year-olds, but we are seeing an increase in the 10, 11, 12 to 14-year-olds that come in to see us,” the CEO told Barbados TODAY.
“We have situations where some parents are calling for children who are even younger than ten years old. They are reporting that they are aggressive, they cannot handle them, they are angry and that they are lashing out. That is something that needs researching and addressing,” he suggested.
When asked to put his finger on the cause, Clarke replied: “You know they say that Barbados is a follow pattern country, so when one thing comes to light, other things tend to manifest themselves….and I am thinking our young people at that age, they are bolder now than ever before.”
“The problem from a more scientific perspective, is that these young people are angry. They are angry because they would have seen situations played out at home; they would have found themselves in unmanageable situations and it would have gotten to the point where they are dealing with what they have seen the best way possible to their knowledge,” the counsellor stated.
“Not that it is the best way, but it is the best way they know how to deal with it because it is what society teaches them to do,” he reasoned.
Clarke told Barbados TODAY although he has not been seeing an overall increase in the number of young people being referred to his agency, it did not mean there was not an increase in juveniles out there with deviant behaviours.
“For some reason these young people are not getting the assistance that is needed. But in terms of them being referred, I don’t know if it is because of the whole COVID-19 or that schools are out…but we have not seen that increase,” he stated.
“I would like to see greater assistance for the young people, What I would also like to see…if you look at the three cases that we have had recently, excluding that of the ten-year-old who allegedly killed a relative, you would have had the first young man from primary school that made the mistake when speaking to the media after sitting the 11-plus examination and would have seen a case of cyber bullying. Then we would have seen with Demarco, a perfect example of physical bullying. Then we would have seen these two young men who were caught slapping the vagrants. Another case of bullying because that’s an imbalance of power and strength in that whole ordeal,” the social worker recalled.
He also noted comments by Minister of Youth Dwight Sutherland who recently said there was a need for a systematic approach to dealing with bullying in the schools.
However, parents did not escape Clarke’s tongue lashing.
“Parents need to stop ‘hiding up’ things or stop being in denial. Stop finding excuses for their children. Stop being enablers and realize that there is nothing nasty or there is nothing wrong with seeking professional help from an early age,” he declared.
The other message from the consultant is that nipping deviant behavior in the bud is the key to possibly saving a child from imprisonment or an early grave.
“If you seek that intervention for your children… if you see your child acting out at seven years old and you seek that intervention at seven years old, chances are you will be saving your child from a life of incarceration. You would be saving your child from dying at a young age. But what we find some parents are doing…they are not zooming in on the issue. They are quarreling with the children….’oh you need to stop this, you need to behave yourself’…when it takes something much deeper than that to be done,” the counsellor contended.
While last week’s killing of a 19-year-old girl allegedly at the hands of a younger family member was not being categorized as bullying by Clarke, he noted that the tragedy was equally disturbing.
(emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)
