Every third student in Greece becomes a victim of bullying

One in three schoolchildren is a victim of bullying at school, a study conducted in Greece has shown. And this despite the fact that this phenomenon is growing throughout the world.

The phenomenon of violence and bullying in schools is increasing, as evidenced by the annual statistics of the non-governmental organization “Child’s Smile” and specifically the Center for Combating Violence and Bullying, which operates under this organization.

A related study conducted by an NGO in the 2022-2023 school year showed that one in three children (32.4%) in all geographical regions and schools in Greece were bullied. At the same time, every sixth child said that, in his opinion, at school they are not taught not to bully their classmates.

A Greek Red Cross conference on school bullying noted that 17 violent teenage gangs were dismantled last year.

Lazaros Grigoriadis, an officer at the Juvenile Protection Sub-Directorate of the Juvenile Delinquency Department of the Thessaloniki Police Department, emphasized that dysfunctional families, communication problems with parents or a lack of boundaries are often behind school bullying.

At the same time, juvenile crime in our country appears to be spiraling out of control, with more than 10,700 incidents recorded by police in 2023 – far more than in 2022.

However, this phenomenon is very complex, and the new anti-bullying program that the Ministry of Education is currently preparing punishes children with exclusion from school or changing schools, and parents with financial fines, instead of educational programs against this phenomenon. At the same time, the program does not contain provisions regarding teachers and other education workers, which relieves them of any responsibility.

In the city of Volos, the parents of a 12-year-old student filed a complaint with the juvenile prosecutor’s office, saying that their child was constantly being bullied, and the school management did not respond to the child’s pleas for protection.

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