In response to his last article on the rising number of cyberbullying in the Gambia and its effects on the youth, Ousman Gaku put up some policy recommendations to curb cyberbullying in the Gambia and beyond.

As it may be known to many, cyberbullying occurs online using different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and so on. These are platforms opened to all from different social and political realities. It might be challenging or impossible for individuals and the government to censor what is posted online consequently making it very difficult to stop undesirable acts through their usage, yet some measures can be taken to reduce the effects of cyberbullying on the victims particularly students.

Considering the complicated nature of cyberbullying, remedying its consequences on victims requires the participation of parents, school administrators, victims (students) and law enforcement agencies.

It is strongly believed that most cases of cyberbullying originate in the offline social context of the school, therefore all schools should initiate anti-bullying programs, and increasingly involved in teaching knowledge and skills related to IT and e-safety. For these reasons, schools will serve as central actor in interventions related to cyberbullying.

School heads are liable for guaranteeing that all students, faculty, and staff are given the opportunity to instruct and learn in a climate liberated from fear and intimidations. School authorities should formulate policies that discourage all forms of bullying in and out of the school. There should be a disciplinary committee/counselling committee who will ensure that the policies are enforced by investigating cases of cyberbullying and levy sanctions on those who violate the rules. The schools should also initiate anti-cyber bullying clubs who will create awareness among their peers on the negative impacts of cyber bullying on the students and their education.

Meanwhile, parents also have great roles in reducing the impacts of cyberbullying on their children. Parents should create good communications with their children and regularly engage them in conversations to know their problems. Sometimes, children might sit over such issues when they are severely tortured psychologically. Although children might need their own space and privacy to certain degree, but parents usually invest heavily on their children and want to protect them. It might be challenging to draw line between these two contrasting conditions. It will be essential for parents t monitor what their children read and write on the social media. In this they will be more responsible with what write online. Parents should also provide blocking software that can make some websites inaccessible. Parents may consider creating family rules to set up acceptable use policies, set time online, encourage offline activities with peers to reduce the amount of time spent online. Finally, if one notices that his child is being cyberbullied, he should not overreact but use appropriate means to tackle the issues such as involving school authorities, and the police/law enforcement agencies if necessary.

Furthermore, students usually try to do well at school all the time. They obviously want safe and conducive environments for themselves but cannot realize all these alone therefore, children should always talk to adults in their lives particularly their parents and teachers, they become more approachable to you when you have problems. Additionally, on occasion talk specifically about Internet etiquette and use teachable moments that crop up in the news on your own social media feeds. For instance, if one thinks something questionable was posted, ask a parent or a teacher their opinion before acting on them. Students should familiarize themselves with the school and family. They should accept the rules and abide by them as they are meant to protect them. When using social media platforms, they should not try to befriend everyone, only accept friendship requests from those one knows. Students should be conscious about their privacy thus, should not share their passwords with others. Finally, students should always report any cyberbullying case they come across to their parents, teachers or even the police.

In conclusion, policymakers involved with education, youth, well-being, IT, justice, and other related areas should undertake, stimulate, and coordinate initiatives promoting the adoption of evidence-based strategies for addressing cyberbullying in schools. For example, they could develop legislative initiatives like requiring schools to adopt anti-bullying and anti-cyberbullying policies and formulating learning outcomes regarding social skills, both online and offline, by providing facilities such as support systems, financing and by promoting awareness in schools with regard to cyberbullying and existing evidence-based program for addressing it.

By: Mr.Ousman Gaku, Public Policy Expert and Youth Activist