AfriForum grateful Gauteng MEC for Education wants to combat suicide among learners
The civil rights organisation AfriForum’s anti-bullying campaign team has been raising awareness of bully behaviour since 2017 and has already reached more than 130 000 learners and 180 schools nationwide. At least 40 cases of alleged suicide in Gauteng schools have been reported since the start of the 2023 school year. AfriForum believes the Department of Education should’ve intervened long ago but is also grateful that there are plans to implement strategies to try to combat this problem.
AfriForum offers various resources to schools, teachers and parents to curb bullying, cyberbullying and suicide in schools.
Die Val, a short film with the aim of creating hope in young people, strengthens the hands of the anti-bullying campaign team because learners can watch the film in their own time. This film has been available for free on AfriForumTV since 10 September (also World Suicide Awareness Day) last year. The anti-bullying campaign team also visited schools nationwide with this film to raise awareness of bully behaviour and suicide.
This film explores the challenges young people face today and how they must find their way through the uncertainty of adolescence and young adulthood. It is a small look at coming of age where an 18-year-old matric girl struggles to remain standing amid, among other things, pressure at school and on social media. It is important to watch the film so that one can be aware of bullying behaviour and its impact, to notice the signs of depression in your fellow human beings, and to listen when a victim of bully behaviour or someone with depression or anxiety talks to them – preferably a trusted adult, a teacher or a psychologist.
“The film also touches on cyber-bullying, which is causing more of a stir among teenagers these days. In the past, the bullies were only at school, but nowadays bullying also takes place on mobile phones and social media,” says Leandie Bräsler, AfriForum’s manager for Youth Leadership.
“Although this film touches on a very hard and sad theme, it ends positively by creating hope. The necessary solutions are offered to the viewer: Which channels should you follow if you are being bullied; that it is important to talk to someone whom you trust; that it’s okay not to feel okay; as well as the various signs that parents, teachers and children can spot when someone is being bullied. The film also shows that there are consequences for the bullies when they bully others,” says Bräsler.
AfriForum’s anti-bullying campaign team and AfriForumTV were also at the Big Red Barn in Irene on Saturday 9 September in support of the #YouMatterWalk campaign where almost 700 people supported this initiative for the benefit of suicide awareness.
AfriForum’s anti-bullying campaign team has, among others, a Cyberbullying guide that can be downloaded free of charge as tools for schools, teachers, learners and parents.
For more information about AfriForum’s anti-bullying and suicide awareness campaign, click here.
