The Tribune

RBC Royal Bank is sponsoring an anti-bullying campaign together with Bully-Busters.

Bully-Busters is an international outreach organisation dedicated to the cause of eliminating bullying and cyber-bullying in schools and among young people.

As “Bully Busters”, students and schools throughout the Bahamas will be encouraged to promote cooperation and prevent bullying.

Local statistics indicate that fighting and bullying in schools in the Bahamas are common and trending upwards.

In 2013, The Bahamas National Anti-Drug Secretariat, under the Ministry of National Security, conducted a survey on violence and bullying among secondary school students.

Of the 2,634 students polled, representing 44 private and public schools, 26 per cent of males and 17.2 per cent of females reported being physically attacked in the form of being hit, kicked or shoved.

RBC said they are dedicated to increasing the physical and mental well-being of children, ‘the whole child’, throughout society. This dedication they said, is evident in RBC’s global Children’s Mental Health Project. Although only six years old, the RBC Children’s Mental Health Project has committed more than $20 million to support early intervention and public education programmes. Recent research shows that bullies and their victims are more likely to experience psychotic experiences by the age of 18. It strengthens the evidence base that reducing bullying in childhood could substantially reduce mental health problems.

“RBC is deeply committed to reducing bullying in our schools and we are proud to support this initiative”, said Jan Knowles, RBC Manager, Public Relations and Communications.

“The issue of bullying in our schools affects the community at large. As more and more schools participate in this critical anti-bullying initiative, our hope is that we can change the next generation’s attitude towards violence, and help them understand that you do not use violence to show strength.”

Roxanne Chipman, Event Organiser, explained the impact RBC’s sponsorship of the programme would have for young persons in the Bahamas:

“By eradicating bullying from schools, not only does the victim benefit, but bullies do as well. Research has shown that children who are bullies at the primary school level often grow up to have criminal records by the age of 30 and are often rejected by their peers, lose friendships as they grow older, and often even become bullies in the work place.”

“If we join hands in the Bahamas to put an end to bullying early in the lives of children, we would have all done our part in curbing crime in the future.”

The anti-bullying campaign will launch with a live performance featuring students from New York entitled ‘New Kids’.

‘New Kids’ is an engaging musical about students in 5th through 8th grade dealing with peer pressure, hazing, bullying and the importance of staying true to oneself.

The show, which features young actors ranging from 10 to 14 years old, includes a Q&A with students, teachers and the cast after the performance.

The anti-bullying campaign encourages ongoing conversation about bullying by sending discussion questions to all participating schools to stimulate discussion between teachers and students in their respective school environments. The performance is scheduled for February 16 to 19, 2014 at Loyola Hall, Gladstone Road. Schools wishing to participate can pick up registration forms from The Catholic Education Centre on West Street. The cost to attend ‘New Kids’ is $8 per person.