Let’s Defeat Bullying is an online campaign to spread awareness against bullying, and encourage children to seek help. Our mission is to empower children and encourage them to stand up for themselves, and seek help. We are committed to changing the culture for students across the world. We work towards educating and spreading awareness against bullying, and. We provide help for those in need and at risk of suicide, and raises awareness through our various programs and social media campaigns.
Our mission is to educate parents and students about the detrimental effects about bullying, and work towards defeating it. We strive to promote and enhance social wellness among today’s youth by empowering and encouraging them to address bullying. We aim to enhance and foster a school’s ability to address bullying incidents in a proactive and timely manner through our programs, as well as by creating education and prevention strategies.
You can learn more about us at https://www.letsdefeatbullying.com/
1. What gave you the initiative to create your organization (Let’s Defeat Bullying)?
When I was in the sixth grade, I was bullied really badly by my then best friends. At first, I never realized that I was bullied, I always thought that they were my best friends, and they were probably just teasing me. However, when the bullying escalated, I informed my parents and teachers about it, and that was the only thing that got me out of the bullying situation. However, I noticed how a lot of people don’t ask for help when they are being bullied, and instead silently sit and suffer. This really inspired me to start Let’s Defeat Bullying, with an aim to educate and spread awareness about bullying and provide help to those victims who are too afraid to ask for it.
2. Please describe one of your most memorable programs or social media campaigns you’ve held.
At Let’s Defeat Bullying, we have several programs such as a mentorship program, an ambassador program, and more. One of our most memorable programs will definitely be the buddy program. This program is designed to help a victim of bullying make new friends and open up. Through this program, we want to create a safe environment for children and help them connect with similar individuals across the world. Since we’ve launched this program, we’ve got so many applications from middle schoolers and high schoolers who are interested in becoming a buddy and helping fellow victims of bullying. Moreover, so many victims have benefited from this program, and have become best friends with their buddies!
3. What seems to be the most effective way to reduce bullying and how can fellow students help?
The best way to reduce bullying in schools is to have strict anti-bullying policies, and to create a positive school environment. It’s also essential to take strict action when bullying situations arise, and to conduct workshops on and spread awareness about bullying, and to teach children about what they’re supposed to do when they are being bullied. It’s also really important to be an upstander and to report bullying when you see it, instead of being a silent bystander.
4. Why do you think bullying is so prevalent in today’s society, especially in schools?
Bullying is so prevalent in today's society because of the fact that people don’t see bullying to be a problem, and also because victims don’t ask for help when they need it the most.
One of the main reasons why bullying occurs in schools is because you are not being supervised the entire time. There obviously are teachers and faculty members who are looking after you but a school is so huge and there are so many students that it’s really easy for the bullying to go unnoticed. It’s also easier to gang up in schools and to identify students who seem to be weak and don’t really talk to a lot of people and mark them as potential victims. It also really depends on a school’s policy regarding bullying. So many schools have a really strict anti-bullying policy, but then again, an equal number of school’s don’t, so even if a bullying situation happens to arise in their school, the school doesn’t take strict action, which encourages further bullying.
5. What is your view on cyber bullying?
Cyberbullying is really prevalent today as it's really easy to hide behind a screen and spread hate. Especially during the pandemic, with everyone sitting at home and being very active on social media, the statistics of cyberbullying have shot up. Cyberbullying can have very serious consequences, and it’s really important to help prevent it. The best way to prevent cyberbullying is to block and report potential cyberbullies. Parents should also keep track of their child's social media usage in order to prevent them from being cyberbullied.