Abstract

Child safety in educational institutions is a prime concern for stakeholders. The current study was planned to gather insights of learners, studying at various levels, regarding bullying in educational institutes. Data were gathered from 482 students studying in both public and private educational institutes. A self-reporting questionnaire, having 38 items with five factors, was used to collect data from both male and female students. The results showed that boys were more involved in bullying related activities than girls. Similarly, it was found that students studying in private sector educational institutes faced more bullying than students studying in government sector educational institutes. After analysis, the researchers found that boys faced more physical bullying, more relational bullying and cyber bullying than girls. It was also found that public educational institutions had more physical bullying and verbal bullying as compared to private educational institutions. The students of private schools faced more relational (social) bullying than students studying in public schools. The study had practical implications for stakeholders to curtail bullying for more effective learning environment in educational institutes in the country.

Key Words

Bullying, Physical, Verbal, Relational, Cyber

Introduction

Safety of a child is a basic human right. When it comes to education, this right becomes more crucial as learning takes place in a conducive and safe environment. Every child matters and has the right to feel harmless in any academic surrounding. One of the main coexistence problem in society is bullying. Bullying is common in educational institutions in Pakistan but it is still not considered as a severe social issue. It is emerging as a widespread problem in contemporary educational institution. It is present in almost all educational institutions and at all levels in one way or the other (Ahmad et. al, 2022; Chowdhury, 2020; Slee & Skrzypiec, 2016; Capel, 2013; Woods & Wolke, 2003). 

Educational institutions are made to provide learners with an opportunity to develop appropriate and sustainable skills to enrich their learning, but the chances are being depleted because of bullying. Researchers have repeatedly exposed bullying as a destructive, hostile and aggressive form of violence having damaging aftermaths in adolescence (Capel, 2013). Majority portion of the life of a learner is spent in school settings, and all foundations of future life are made in these surroundings. So, it becomes very important that this environment is pleasant and healthy for learners so that they can excel in an excellent manner not only in academics but also in other aspects of life (Capel, 2013).       

The question of to be or not to be arises here; is it the poor academics that leads to involvement in bullying or the vice versa (Woods & Wolke, 2003). In a school setting, bullying can be considered as an explicit form of violence, aggression or hostile behavior where a learner is open to adverse and undesirable engagements of some other learners frequently in a specific time in short intervals (Capel, 2013). Students’ perceptions concerning bullying differ widely due to many reasons such as personal experiences, culture and environmental factors present in the surrounding and the role played in the process of bullying. This may be of any type i.e. physical, verbal, emotional, social or relational etc. As it is repetitive, harmful and has damaging effect so it has destructive consequences for the bullied person. 

Literature shows that bullying has a significant effect on large number of students in schools around the globe (Mucherah et al., 2018). The concern of bullying is not limited only to the developed countries, the developing and under developed countries are also victim of bullying. The different shades of bullying are present in African countries too. Mucherah et al., (2018) shared that students living in boarding schools were more inclined towards bullying than students coming to school as day scholars. 

   While discussing its different forms, Capel (2013) quoted works of many researchers who categorized it under physical bullying such as kicking, hitting, pushing etc.; verbal bullying as teasing, verbal threatening, insulting by bad name, spreading rumors, provoking etc.; social bullying by boycotting or marginalization someone in the peer group so that he/she can be isolated among the group on the basis of cast, religion, race or any other distinct feature. Apart from these forms of bullying, research in recent days have highlighted another type of bullying i.e. cyber bullying that is media related and is growing rapidly.  

Chowdhury (2020) quoted few incidents of suicides as a result of bullying (three students in Norway in 1982; one in Japan in 1986; another one in Japan in 1994; a boy having age of 14 years was murdered by his 7 peers in 1997 in Canada). Students in Bangladesh also met death due to bullying. One such example is of a university student in 2019. 

Students who take part in bullying in any capacity, one or the other as initiator or collaborator, usually have a wider network of peers and they can easily target those students who are alone or having a low social profile as bullying victims. It is widely seen that the story starts from verbal bullying and can lead to physical assault and if it is not curtailed, then any dangerous mishap can take place (murder or suicide as quoted by Chowdhury, 2020).  

There can be as many forms of bullying as anyone think of as it is exceptional form of aggression breeding in interpersonal relations among the children when someone is having some advantage or authority over the others. It becomes difficult for elders to differentiate between children being bullied or an overreaction to some adverse situation in social context. The elders may consider bodily bullying as playful fight and verbal teasing as a joyful mocking. Considering from the aspects of forms of bullying, one finds lot of nomenclature of bullying such as physical, verbal, emotional, and social and cyber bullying. Besides bullying, there are interactive biases developed on the basis of gender, racial background, ethnicity, weight, special ability or disability etc. It is observed that the most common practices of bullying employed are taunts, teasing, treats and hitting. These can be employed directly or indirectly against the victims of bullying. Regardless of the tactics employed for bulling, it is a continuous pressure used either physically or psychologically that breeds an enduring configuration of exploitation and annoyance concerning about the bullied (Chowdhury, 2020).

Adverse and destructive feelings, perceptions and attitudes regarding school can be generated among bullied students which can lead to possible segregation socially. When it happens, it can be concluded that personnel in school are least interested to react more proactively to the incidents of bullying taking place in school (Slee & Skrzypiec, 2016). Those students who became target of bullying feel intimidated or fearful from the school environment and become more worried about their well-being and safety in all aspects i.e. physical as well as emotional. It may result in negative impacts on mental health of the victim brining depression, anxiety and low self-esteem on their part. 

Every school has a unique climate that is reflected in its classrooms. This exceptional environment is very important and has its impact on students’ learning. During the initial research on school/classroom climate, the focus of researchers was on verbal guidelines or instructions of teachers. With the passage of time it was extended by adding feelings and affective comradeship of student and teacher present in the classroom. It is also noticed that when teachers have extraordinary expectations from their students regarding academic achievement, they attempt to create constructive environment in the classroom by promoting mutual respect, care, cooperation, happiness and emotional security along with clear rules. On the other hand, there are destructive classrooms that produce irregular behaviors of the teachers, disciplinary problems oriented management of classes with low rather no expectations of high achievement on the part of students etc. (Slee & Skrzypiec, 2016).     

While discussing different dimensions of school climate, Lewno-Dumdie et al., (2019) reveals five different aspects including safety (physical & social and emotional), teaching (quality teaching & learning), relations (respect, honor & cooperation) , the physical environment ( hygiene and cleanliness) and processes of school improvement. The observations of learners concerning bullying in school climate are complex and bring into focus the multifaceted nature of this widespread issue. The violence associated with it not only affects the victims but also the overall climate of the school. 

Due to changing patterns in human life, children are gradually indulging rapidly to innovative communication forms. Bullying too, is also transforming its shapes causing peace deterioration of children through excessive use of social media resulting in cyber bullying (Mucherah et al., 2018). The environment of school provides a great opportunity to the perpetrators of bullying as they locate their soft targets around them. The overall school environment breeds or diminish bullying. The schools where discipline is highly structured and encircled with rules enforced with fairness results in happy learning (Cornell, et.al 2015).   

The goal of a school or any educational organization is to provide chances to learners to construct sustainable skills relevant to further enhance learning and comprehension so that child is ready to live a better life, but all these prospects are hampered by bullying. A country like Pakistan, where education is present in three different streams i.e. public, private and madrassah , the study on this coexistence problem of bullying is a timely effort. This present study is designed in public sector secondary schools and in private elite schools working in big cities of Pakistan. The underlying aim of the study in hand was to study the prevailing situation and environment in which bullying is taking its shape. 

Present Study

The present research study was planned to study perceptions of students regarding bullying taking place around them in their educational institutions. The questionnaire used in the study was developed as five point rating scale from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. The questionnaire had 38 statements (Cronbach alpha 0.82) and was used as google form as well as face to face interaction with respondents. Students were approached in multiple ways i.e. personal visits to schools, tuition academies, and personal contacts of researchers, teachers and peers were also used so that more and diverse perceptions of the students can be collected regarding bullying. The students were asked about their gender and type of school as demographic information. The respondents were assured to keep their personal identification as secret and their perception will be used only for the research purpose. In this way the researchers were able to get data from 482 students. 

The questionnaire on bullying was developed by researchers, keeping in mind the local social structure and prevailing conditions in the schools of the country. As bullying in school is a multifaceted, evolving and a complex issue, it is still a vast subject and not easy to comprehend in a small research instrument. So, researchers took perceptions of students on few categories of bullying such as physical, verbal, relational (social), cyber etc. It also had few items regarding teacher’s role/behavior in bullying. 

Exploratory factor analysis extracted five factors of bullying questionnaire. Table 1 presents the factor loadings of the 38-item bullying questionnaire along with factors. 

Table 1

S. No	Factor	Statements
1	Physical bullying	3, 4, 9, 10, 15, 20, 21, 28, 29, 34, 35
2	Verbal bullying	8, 11, 12, 24, 25, 26, 30,32,40,41
3	Relational (Social) bullying	6, 14, 19, 23, 37
4	Cyber bullying	33, 36, 38, 39, 42
5	Role/behavior of teacher in bullying	2, 13, 16, 17, 22, 27, 31

Table 2

Variable	Frequency	Percentage
Gender
Boys	286	59.3
Girls	196	40.7
School Type
Public	320	66.4
Private	162	33.6

Table 3

Variable	N	M	Sd	Df	T	p
Boys	286	153.59	20.72	480	-2.61	.007*
Girls	196	148.04	24.34

Table 3 shows that there was significant mean difference in students’ perception regarding bullying on the basis of gender.  The boys (M=153.59, SD=20.72) showed more mean score than girls (M=148.04, SD= 24.34) indicating boys indulging more in bullying than girls. 

Similarly, independent samples t-test was also used to measure the perceptions of students studying in different types of school i.e. public schools and private schools. 

Table 4

Variable	N	M	Sd	Df	T	p
Public	320	151.97	22.02	480	-2.06	0.04*
Private	162	155.07	25.07

Table 4 shows that there was significant mean difference in students’ perception regarding bullying on the basis of types of institutions.  The students studying in private schools (M=155.07, SD=25.07) showed more mean score than students studying in public schools (M=151.97, SD= 22.02) indicating private school students indulging more in bullying than students 

studying in public schools. 

A series of independent samples t-test were applied to check the perceptions of students regarding different categories of bullying i.e. physical, verbal, relational, cyber and teacher’s role in bullying on the basis of gender and school type. 

Table 5

Factor	Variable	N	M	Sd	Df	T	p
Physical	Boys	286	30.38	8.98	480	-3.604	0.000*
	Girls	196	27.38	8.97
Verbal	Boys	286	34.64	6.87	480	.188	0.851
	Girls	196	34.76	6.91
Relational	Boys	286	18.09	3.87	480	-1.427	0.154
	Girls	196	17.58	3.82
Cyber	Boys	286	15.29	4.22	480	-.243	0.808
	Girls	196	15.20	3.79
Role/behavior of teacher	Boys	286	23.06	4.54	480	-2.184	0.029*
	Girls	196	22.16	4.37

Table 5 describes students’ perception regarding different types of bullying in this research. It can be seen that there is significant mean difference found in physical bullying and role/behavior of teacher in bullying between boys and girls. As far as physical bullying is concerned, boys (M=30.38, SD=8.98) face more physical bullying than girls (M=27.38, SD=8.97). Similarly boys consider (M=23.06, SD= 4.54) teachers’ role/behavior more active in bullying than girls (M=22.16, SD=4.37). The other three factors of bullying scale showed no significant mean difference between boys and girls but a very interesting pattern is seen. Both boys and girls face verbal bullying, where a slight higher mean scores of girls indicated that girls face more verbal bullying than boys.  Relational and cyber bullying also take place in the lives of boys and girls, where boys face more relational (social related) bullying than girls. Cyber bullying is common for both boys and girls. It can be observed that boys face a bit more cyber bullying than girls. 

Independent samples t-test was also used to seen patterns of bullying taking place in two different stream of education in the country i.e. public and private schools. Table 6 describes perceptions of students studying in public and private schools. It can be seen that there was significant mean difference was found in physical and relational bullying between two types of school students. 

Table 6

Factor	Variable	N	M	Sd	Df	T	p
Physical	Public	320	29.93	8.38	480	2.654	0.008*
	Private	162	27.62	10.19
Verbal	Public	320	34.26	7.01	480	-1.917	0.056
	Private	162	35.53	6.56
Relational	Public	320	17.60	3.84	480	-2.257	0.024*
	Private	162	18.44	3.83
Cyber	Public	320	15.39	3.98	480	1.048	0.295
	Private	162	14.98	4.18
Role/behavior of teacher	Public	320	22.91	4.38	480	1.498	0.135
	Private	162	22.27	4.67

The public school students (M=29.92, SD= 8.38) faced more physical bullying than students studying in private schools (M= 27.62, SD= 10.19). Similarly, there was significant mean difference in relational bullying between students of public and private school students. The students of private schools (M= 18.44, SD= 3.83) faced more relational (social) bullying than students studying in public schools (M=17.60, SD=3.84). 

The other three types of bullying were also faced by students of both types of school. It can be seen that verbal bullying is faced by public school students more than private school students. Similarly cyber bullying is faced by students of public school more than students studying in private schools. 

Conclusion

Regardless of variability in bullying literature, the researchers agree that bullying ranges from physical to verbal aggressions that comprises harassment, rumors, social isolation rather rejection in social life etc. In addition to this, it is suggested by researchers that physical bullying is more common in boys as compared to girls; whereas, the frequency of verbal bullying is more common in girls as compared to boys (Hamburger, Basile & Vivolo, 2011). The study at hand was designed in school population to find out the perceptions of learners regarding bullying around them in educational institutions. The results of the research study confirmed active roles of boys in bullying as compare to girls. It was observed that boys took part in physical bullying that established the universal trend of boys showing more physical aggression than girls.

Another interesting fact that emerged in analysis was that both boys and girls were involved in verbal bullying as there was no significant difference found between them. One of the easiest forms of bullying is the verbal one and people use to take advantage of its easiness and openness. Another feature of verbal bullying is its directness that makes it prominent and lethal effect on the person who is victim of it (Olweus, 1994).  In present study it was not labeled to any gender rather both girls and boys were involved in it. According to researchers around the globe, bullying is considered as one of the major problems regarding health of school going children (Nansel, Craig, Overpeck, Saluja, & Ruan, 2004). 

Similarly boys were more involved in relational bullying as compared to girls; whereas, on the front of cyber bullying both the genders faced the similar type of bullying. The role of teacher in bullying emerged a key aspect in perceptions of the respondents. Manna et al., (2019) discussed bullying as quality issue in school climate and highlighted many shades of bullying in their study in Italy. According to their study, bullying can generate side effects on behavior and academic performance of learners.

Multiple shades of bullying were studied in the current study, in school population, in one of the big cities of the country, where the students were well aware of the complex and multifaceted nature of bullying. It is believed that bullying is depreciating the overall climate of the school leading to damage the quality of education both in public and private schools. It is suggested that management must intervene to curtail it to decrease undesirable effects on learners.  

All research studies have limitation, so as the present study too with regard to data collection and interpretation of results. The sample of the study was confined to only one big city, due to lack of resources in both time and energy. It can be enhanced by collecting data from other cities. As the problem of bullying is an ongoing one, future studies can present more suggestions to curtail it in educational settings. Presently we are living in times of social media, where shades of bullying have evolved from physical, verbal, emotional to cyber bullying, it has become crucial to join hands together for creating safe and healthy environment where unhealthy activities and behaviors are discouraged so that bullying can be curtail to a minimal level.  

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