What Can School Administrators Be Doing To Stop Cyberbullying?

The growing popularity of social networking websites brings some major threats, particularly for the young, vulnerable minds. Cyberbullying is one of these threats that the young internet users are encountering these days. This is the act of using the internet technologies to target someone with cruel and threatening messages. Though it may not sound like a major offence, but cyberbullying can cause immense damage to the victim. Such is the threat of this act that school administrators are taking it as a serious concern for the well-being of the students. Several schools are already coming up with tailored anti-cyberbullying policies to prevent it from happening and handle the challenges if it does happen. Here are some measures that can prove effective to stop cyberbullying in school:

Student counseling

Every school has a counseling cell for its students, comprising of experts with special qualifications such as a university or online Doctorate in Education. As a part of the anti-cyberbullying strategy, the administration can ensure that the cell starts counseling the students on the harms of cyberbullying as a part of its regular curriculum. Students are to be made aware about the significance of reporting such incidents right away and also be assured that they will get help when there is a need.

Cyber Vigilance

Another step that the school administrators can take is to have a dedicated cyber vigilance cell that is capable of detecting such issues so that they can be handled at the earliest. They can hire IT experts to check any unwanted or suspicious activities on the social accounts of any of the students. Moreover, cyber vigilance can enable them to nab the culprits red-handed with proper proofs against them.

Stringent rules and regulations

Administrators need to assert that strict action will be taken against any student or person who will harass and bully anyone, online or offline. They need to clearly convey that no one will be spared if proved guilty of such an act that leads to any kind of physical or mental trauma to the students. With stringent rules and regulations in place, any cyberbully will think twice before flouting the.

Involvement of teachers and staff

It is extremely important to have the school teachers and staff involved as this is one challenge that the administrators cannot handle on their own. The reason is that teachers and staff interact directly with the students, which puts them in a better position to identify behavioral issues in them. They are to be trained to use their discretion to understand traits which indicate that someone is being bullied or is bullying another.

Collaboration with the parents

In addition to keeping a check on the students in school, their activities outside also need to be monitored. This is where the school administration needs to collaborate with the parents and counsel them regarding the threat. They can arrange special sessions for parents to create awareness about the causes and symptoms of cyberbullying and also the ways it can be handled.

A well-planned strategy and collaboration with parents and teachers are the best measures that school authorities can take to keep a check on cyberbullying. Having control is absolutely essential as it can save lives in the long run.