Lawyer dedicated to putting an end to school bullying

    By WANG QINGYUN | China Daily | Updated: 2022-01-31 11:10
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    Shao Shougang interacts with students during a lecture he delivers to prevent bullying at a primary school in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Dec 15, 2021. [Photo provided to China Daily]

    Shao Shougang is a lawyer based in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, who focuses on offering legal counsel for companies. The 48-year-old is better known to the public, however, for his efforts to address the issue of student bullying.

    Practicing at a branch of a law firm headquartered in Beijing, Shao turned the telephone in his office into a hotline in January 2019 to provide free advice for elementary and high school students being bullied by their peers.

    Over more than two years, "at least 100" calls by students and their parents from "all around the country" have come in asking for help, the lawyer says, adding that some of them called him directly on his cellphone.

    Before training and recruiting a volunteer to take on the job in November, Shao and his colleagues would keep a record of the calls, assess the information the callers provided and provide assistance accordingly.

    For some children who suffered bullying but dared not tell their parents or teachers, Shao says he would encourage them to overcome their fears of the bullies and seek help.

    For parents who called, he would introduce them to the anti-bullying stipulations in laws and regulations to help them better protect their children's rights, and would always suggest parents seek professional and timely psychological intervention for their children.

    "We have found that bullying may not always leave physical injuries, but it almost always causes mental wounds," says the lawyer, who also helps mediate bullying cases in schools in Qingdao.

    Peer bullying is prevalent all around the world.

    In a report on school violence and bullying published in 2019 which gathers data from surveys that "cover 144 countries and territories", the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said that "almost one in three students ... has been bullied by their peers at school at least once in the last month".

    In order to better tackle the issue, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, adopted the amendments of the Law on Protection of Minors and of the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency in late 2020, which ask schools or educational authorities to set up a system to prevent and control student bullying.

    The amendment of the Law on Protection of Minors defines student bullying as "the behavior happening among students, where one party deliberately or maliciously bullies or insults the other party through body, language, network and other means, causing personal injury, property loss or mental damage to the other party".

    The amendment also asks schools to stop any bullying behavior immediately and inform parents or other guardians and calls on both sides to participate in identifying and handling bullying, among other things.

    The amendment is "a breakthrough" as it encourages parents of both sides to participate in the response to the bullying and makes it more difficult for schools to trivialize the issue, Shao says.

    Looking back on the cases that his team has handled through the phone calls, the lawyer said he identified "more than 90 percent" of them as student bullying.

    Most of the cases involved physical bullying, which often took place in a repeated manner outside the scope of video surveillance, such as in a dorm or washroom, this could lead to the victims exhibiting stress responses, such as insomnia, fever and even depression, he says.

    Also not to be ignored is the risks of bullying turning into severe conflicts, leading to crimes being conducted by the bullies or those being bullied, says Shao, pointing out that preventing bullying is an important way to prevent juvenile delinquency.

    Schools are where most of student bullying cases take place. As a result, schools should create a friendly and caring environment for children, and teachers should take the lead by taking special anti-bullying training, treating every student fairly and avoiding marginalizing any of them, Shao says.

    He also suggests schools encourage students to report bullying and conduct serious investigation into any reports of bullying.

    Shao and his team published a book in 2019 that provides advice for schools and parents on how to deal with student bullying.

    In December 2019, the Beijing headquarters of his firm co-launched an anti-bullying program with the China Children and Teenagers' Fund.

    The program aims at providing anti-bullying training to schools, communities and families, legal support for bullied children, psychological counseling to the bullied, among other things.

    The aim is to cover as many as 1,000 elementary and high schools in China, according to the Fund.

    Special program helps ensure education equity

    From telex operator to global bridge builder

    Limited by eyesight, still squaring off with fists

    Burn survivor enrolls in Nanjing, attempting to create robotic hand

    Surgery successful for man with folded spine

    'Folded boy' begins new lease of life

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    国产在线拍偷自揄拍无码| 日本aⅴ精品中文字幕| 天堂а√在线中文在线最新版 | 国产AV无码专区亚汌A√| 国产资源网中文最新版| MM1313亚洲精品无码| 亚洲欧洲日产国码无码网站| 亚洲成人中文字幕| 中文字幕无码久久人妻| 人禽无码视频在线观看| 久久精品aⅴ无码中文字字幕不卡| 亚洲无av在线中文字幕| 久久99久久无码毛片一区二区 | 久久午夜无码鲁丝片| 无码任你躁久久久久久老妇App | 久久精品?ⅴ无码中文字幕| 午夜无码视频一区二区三区| 国产在线无码不卡影视影院 | 丰满日韩放荡少妇无码视频| 中文字幕在线看视频一区二区三区| 无码少妇一区二区浪潮av| 国产a v无码专区亚洲av| 亚洲va无码va在线va天堂| 中文无码不卡的岛国片| 日本久久中文字幕| 中文字幕日韩一区| 中文字幕国产在线| 欧美日韩中文字幕| 国产日韩精品中文字无码| 色综合网天天综合色中文男男| 久久久噜噜噜久久中文字幕色伊伊| 久久久久亚洲AV无码专区网站| 免费无码一区二区| 久久久久久亚洲精品无码| 无码欧精品亚洲日韩一区夜夜嗨 | 无码一区二区三区老色鬼| 精品日韩亚洲AV无码一区二区三区| 亚洲国产中文字幕在线观看 | 亚洲中文字幕无码日韩| 国产成人无码AV一区二区| 日韩综合无码一区二区|