“Before, a kick was violence, but now it’s a touch.”

According to statistics, Over 9% of students suffer from bullying, More or less. Events such as the suicide of a 14-year-old girl in the first weeks of school in Seville warn that the threat, always present, is now taking advantage of social networks and premature access to these technologies to carry out harassment outside the centre’s walls. Regarding the data processed in Galicia, Judith Fernández, Director General of Education, explained to the ABC that although there has been an increase in media coverage, the number of files activated in cases of potential harassment has decreased compared to last year. From 680 people in 2023-24 to 615 people in 2024-25. 100 of them arrived at the prosecutor’s office.

Beyond the specifications of the data needed to probe an issue, what matters to stakeholders is the speed with which the center can respond to even the slightest question. And there, the protocol becomes the only roadmap to follow. The first thing the Ministry of Education has shown is that When a complaint is received, a “preliminary investigation phase” is activated. This means the center’s administrators have seven days to gather evidence of what is happening. Once it is confirmed that something is going on, the family is called and all available information is laid out on the table. Attempts will be made to assess the level of harassment. Measures will need to be taken, ranging from expelling the harasser for between four days and a month, to direct transfer to a center in the most serious cases, which would also require the activation of the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office.

This rule requires that in all files for which a corrective action is issued: There will be a follow-up after that Monitor both the bullied and the bully to see how the situation develops. The diagram at this point is “Wellness Coordinator” Teachers are often chosen for their closeness and sensitivity to their students and will serve as a point of reference for the student being harassed and for all observers of the situation who see what is happening but do not dare to speak up. In large centers, the Galician Ministry of Education goes a step further and creates teams to combat bullying, ensuring that more teachers are involved in eradicating these behaviors and that every student has someone they can trust within these teams.

At the material level, orange mailbox They are other tools that students need to avoid humiliation and humiliation among their peers. These are anonymous boxes placed in discreet locations that allow you to report your episode anonymously. All center websites have digital links to them.

When asked about the age at which bullying increases, the Director acknowledged that it is closely related to the use of mobile phones. ESO is the most problematic educational stage, Nevertheless, infant schools and elementary schools are not immune to this problem. Meniños Foundation experts know this all too well, as they work with first and second grade students (ages 7 to 9) on nearly 30 pilot projects aimed at fostering empathy and caring for classrooms as if they were a community. Through their projects, the classroom becomes a spaceship and consideration for classmates becomes the basic premise. Collective responsibility to overcome group pressure It can also hide situations of harassment by students who turn a blind eye.

Veronica Ribadura, president of the foundation, also emphasized: Exacerbation of bullying in the classroom. “Once, a child was being bullied at school, but he walked out the door, went home, and was in a safe place. Today, the child came home from class, carried it in his pocket, in his cell phone, and continued to harass him even when he was at home,” said an expert who called for people to go find the root of the problem. It’s not just the problem of the bullied child, but also the underlying problem of the bully. “There’s something wrong with a child committing such violence,” Ribadura explains, before announcing another conclusion. “The threshold for violence is getting higher and higher. “Before, kicking someone was violence, now kicking is a touch,” he charged, directly condemning the normalization and imitation of violent and “adult-type” content that minors consume through social networks.

No smartphones

Efforts by some parent organizations and associations, such as banning children under 16 from accessing smartphones, have been praised by some experts who appeal to the consciousness of families themselves as a necessary condition in the fight against harassment and one of its cruelest aspects: cyberbullying. Surveillance of minorsall parties consulted assume otherwise. “Children speak in different ways through their pictures and actions and tell us whether they are wrong or not,” they warn.