Government acts on cyber-bullies

The government is publishing guidelines to help schools, parents and pupils tackle the issue of "cyber-bullying". It comes as the Anti-Bullying Alliance publishes research suggesting that up to one in five pupils has been bullied via the internet or mobile phones. Schools minister Jim Knight said the Department for Education is to also ask technology firms to help. Teaching union the NASUWT said teachers were also increasingly being abused via the web, e-mails and phones. The guidelines, to be sent to schools in England, set out simple steps that schools, parents and pupils can take to prevent cyber-bullying and deal with incidents when they occur. These include: * Schools including strategies to deal with cyber-bullying in their mandatory anti-bullying policies * All communication technology on the site, or as part of school activities off site, should be monitored and, where necessary, restricted * Parents should ensure that they and their child understand how to use technology safely * Young people should not respond to abusive e-mails, text messages or phone calls, but should always tell an adult and contact their service provider for advice on how to block calls, keeping e-mails and texts as evidence * Young people should keep to public areas of chatrooms and never give out personal contact details online or post photographs of themselves The Anti-Bullying Alliance research identified seven types of cyber-bullying, ranging from abusive text messages, e-mails and phone calls to bullying in internet chatrooms, social networking sites and instant messaging. Up to one in five pupils have experienced some form of cyber-bullying according to the study, which was based on responses from 92 children aged 11-16 from 14 London schools. More...

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