Schools have been urged to step up anti-bullying measures after a survey found that 70 per cent of primary and secondary school students had encountered bullying.
The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention surveyed more than 6,600 students between Primary Three and Secondary Three from 72 schools between January and September this year.
Nearly 70 per cent of respondents said they had encountered bullying, of which 10 per cent said such incidents happened at least once a week on average.
Nearly 60 per cent of the bullying involved physical violence while 71 per cent involved verbal threats and teasing. Twenty-three per cent involved social isolation and 15 per cent were related to internet bullying.
Asked what role the students thought they might play if bullying occurred, about 20 per cent said they would probably be the victims while 10 per cent said they would be the bullies.
About 25 per cent said they would be bystanders while the remainder were unsure. The society estimated that the unsure ones would probably be bystanders as well.
