90% of Valencia Region bullying victims move school

AROUND 90 per cent of reported cases of bullying results in the victim changing school. That’s according to the Association Against Bullying in the Valencia Region, Avalcae, which has worked for 10 years, based in Alicante, to combat bullying.
Avalcae, made the statement following news last week that a teenage girl was moving schools in Alicante after complaining the school did not do enough to prevent bullying and help her situation.
The association only keeps records of official documented complaints and said over the last two years, they had received a total of 1,170 complaints, around 600 per year, on average for the rest of the communities in Spain. “There are many more that go unreported because of shame or fear,” said the General Secretary Francisco Sorolla. He said the crisis had worsened situations of abuse in schools because it led to the loss of teachers and psychologists, while students may be under more pressure at home.
Avalcae says almost three in four students are affected by some kind of harassment, typified from continual verbal or physical aggression.
Avalcae receives an average of three to six daily consultations, which are multiplied in the first and last months of each school year when bullying is more prevalent.
Asked why the plan of prevention of school violence (Previ) did not quite pay off, as evidenced by the situation when the Alicante teenager has put up with bullying for three years and now moved schools, Sorolla said: “The law says you have to expel the bully, but the bureaucracy is so slow that entire courses are passed.”