“Are these learned behaviors from the internet by kids, or is the school system broken, or are these symptoms of a larger social problem,” questioned one person who has seen 3 different videos of kids of different ages bullying and beating up other kids.
A video of two students from Harris Elementary School beating up another student on the school bus shocked and upset many people over the weekend. The video showed 2 kids violently attacking another student while other kids look on terrified. People were trying to identify the kids, the bus driver, the parents of the kids and speculating how this could have been allowed to occur.
“That bus driver should be fired!” noted one Facebook user after they saw the video. Shortly after, another video of Koror Elementary School kids attacking another kid and others joining in. A different video showing a “dropout” student also being bullied and attacked was passed around.
The videos prompted Principal Emul from Harris Elementary School and Principal Mayleen Ngiriou from Koror Elementary School to issue notices on Facebook saying that they have become aware of the videos and taking action to address them. The letter also from the Minister of Education Dale Jenkins issued a similar statement.
Director Ishmael Aguon of the Bureau of Public Safety confirmed that reports have been filed with the police and that investigation was ongoing.
It is not the first such incident of kids fighting that has been recorded and probably won’t be the last. A couple of weeks ago, reports of stabbing and other harassment of students at Mindzenty High School were reported prompting law enforcement presence at the school.
Whether this behavior is learned from videos on the internet or has been happening but is only now being recorded, is not known. Minister Jenkins assured that they are developing procedures to handle issues like these.
One thing is certain, based on these videos, bullying, and violence in the schools regardless of grade levels, are happening here in our schools and must be addressed. (By: L.N. Reklai)