Social Security Ministry launches anti-bullying campaign

Many months after the Human Services and Social Security Ministry launched its “Every Child Safe Campaign”, fittingly, their “Anti-Bullying Campaign” (ABC) – along with a motto, “Do Good, Be Good, Live Good” – was launched on Friday, as the world celebrated International Youth Day 2022 themed “Intergenerational solidarity: creating a world for all ages.”

Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud, while attending a ceremony held by the United Bridge Builders Mission in Guyana (UBBM) at the Bookland Gardens, Woolford Avenue, Georgetown, spoke extensively on the issue of bullying amongst children. She massively highlighted the issue of cyberbullying, which is slowly becoming a norm in today’s society of social media domination.

Hazel Success, a social worker who delivered an outline of the UBBM – in collaboration with the Human Services and Social Security Ministry – said that bullying in schools, workplaces, in the home, and online is on the rise and “if left unchecked can destroy our community.”
She noted that it is imperative that we all try and strive to curb this practice of bullying in Guyana’s society.

Safe space
Over the past six weeks, she revealed that the UBBM held a programme with children to provide a safe space for them to talk and open up about the many issues troubling our children today.
She said that many interactive group sessions were held to educate the children on the cause and consequences of bullying and the various types of bullying. However, it was the one-on-one sessions with the children that dug up some of the issues that are facing.
Issues such as child rape, child abuse, and child drinking were brought up in those one-on-one sessions.
“There were also one-on-one sessions which also dealt with a number of issues, as well as brought out serious problems faced by children as a consequence of social factors influencing their lives, including but not limited to, child rape, child abuse at home, child running away from home, child drinking and all of these things,” the social worker said.

Very engaging
Chief executive officer and founder of UBBM, Bonita Montaque, while delivering brief remarks at the ceremony, said that the sessions were very engaging and the children were very receptive of what was being taught to them.
“These two days sessions, engage participants in various areas from self-care to understanding the role in the prevention of bullying and developing productive professional relationships with the children in their care. They were very engaging, and receptive and have pledged to be great gatekeepers. Most of the participants expressed appreciation for the opportunity to benefit from the training and were very clear in calling for similar ongoing training and support,” Montaque said.
She also expressed that children are the future of tomorrow and we should protect them at all costs, sharing similar sentiments with Dr Persaud who noted that at no point a child who feels as though their safety is threatened should be afraid to come forward and speak up about it.
“And their safety is of such importance that at no point in time when that safety is threatened, they must be afraid of speaking out because we are here to listen. We are here to help. We’re here to work with you to really enjoy the safety. That is your entitlement. And I see it as clearly as that because children are entitled to safety at all times. Whether it’s at home, at school, in their communities, or yes in State care,” Dr Persaud said.

Every Child Safe Campaign
Meanwhile, Dr Persaud, who reminded the audience of the “Every Child Safe Campaign” said that the campaign targeted not only children but the role of their parents in their lives who play a major role in maintaining their child’s safety.
“The competence of working with communities is an important and essential component of the Every Child Safe Campaign because I have always known that we cannot from the level of the State or any one institution make a significant impact on children’s life without involving their parents and the wider community.”
With this in mind, the Minister, with the help of her Ministry, devised a parenting manual that is intended to foster better parenting skills in a child’s life.
Now, the “Anti-Bullying Campaign” intends to target bullying not only at the State level but also at the community level. As such, the Minister urged persons to report acts of bullying.
“So, let’s start reporting bullying. Let’s call it out. You know, they have a Cyber Crime Act in this country. So many things are crimes so it might cross the line from just being plain old bullying to being a crime. So we should not encourage cyberbullying in any of its forms. We need to call it out,” she charged.

“Lunch Buddy”
Additionally, Dr Persaud said that there will be upcoming activities under the ABC initiative, like the “Lunch Buddy” activity which encourages children to eat with a friend at lunch to decrease their chances of being bullied. Another activity is the “Tree Note” activity which encourages children to write a note and pin it on a tree on a specific day that is yet to be announced.
Further, children who are under State care will receive free music lessons of their choosing from the Music School of Guyana and also free memberships to the Guyana Cricket Club.
“We are going to be linking with the Music School of Guyana for all the children in State care to have access to diverse training be it steel pan to dance to singing whatever it is you think you want to learn that arrangement has already been made for you.
“And to those boys and girls who told me that cricket was the thing they wanted, arrangements have been made for you to go to cricket clubs free so that we can have you in Guyana so these are things that I feel children in here must have access to,” she said.