The Dushanbe government has launched a program against this phenomenon, which according to some surveys reaches 60% of children. But the explosion is also related to the problem of school organization, with serious shortcomings among directors and teaching staff due to insufficient salaries.
Dushanbe () – In Tajikistan, a preventive program against bullying has been developed for the first time and approved by the authorities, to which around 60% of children and adolescents are subjected to various forms of violence, insults, humiliation and threats, which in some cases even lead to suicide. This phenomenon is called by the Tajiks with the English term bullying, or with the Russian slang bykovat, ”to bully”.
One of the authors of the project, the representative of the Ministry of Education Bobdžon Džakhongir, explained that “bullying of minors is increasingly widespread in Tajikistan”, so the ministry decided to address it “officially and professionally”, holding special meetings with teachers and students, to find appropriate responses to discrimination and the multiple forms of ridicule and disrespect. Now ‘everyone will be clear when these demonstrations should be considered unacceptable, and how to combat them,’ says the official.
Very often, outrages spread over the Internet with the phenomenon of cyberbullying already in primary classes, with the risk that many children will stop going to school and suffer reactions that lead to despair and suicide. According to psychologists, the consequences of bullying leave deep negative marks on the self-esteem of those who suffer it; Psychologist Firuza Mirzoyeva uses a Tajik saying to define this condition: “the wound of the ax will heal, but the pain of the word will remain.” The victims are not only the boys targeted by the bullies, but also many of their classmates, who are forced to watch these scenes in silence without knowing how to react or what side to take.
Mirzoyeva also warns that “today, in Tajikistan, the most serious problem concerns the organization of schools, with a serious shortage of suitable professionals even among directors and teaching staff, and an almost complete lack of psychologists in schools. schools.” The work is immense, “but the salaries are miserable.” Another of the participants in the drafting of the project, the director of the Office of Civil Liberties, Dilrado Samadova, states that “now it is necessary to find sponsors to disseminate the materials throughout all educational centers in the country and support so many specific needs.”
The objective of the initiative is ‘for children to feel defended when they go to school’, both by teachers and their older classmates, and for inspectors to carry out frequent and surprise checks. The attackers usually search the backpacks and take the victims’ belongings, creating a climate of panic in the classrooms. According to Tajik law, members of the police can also be present in schools, without this being considered malfeasance.
The prevention program was also supported by the United States Agency for International Development, to which Tajik institutions turned after the repetition of even serious incidents, such as stabbings and very violent beatings, and to more effectively counter the various forms of cyberbullying. The provisions approved by the Ministry of Education must be compulsorily applied in all schools in Tajikistan, with the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior and the involvement of all affected social realities, to definitively defeat this serious scourge that worries the entire Kyrgyz society.
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