Safety and anti-bullying

Bullying (psychological violence) is behaviour by which a child or a group of children repeatedly and deliberately hurts another child. The child being bullied cannot easily defend themselves.

Bullying can take several forms:

• verbal: name-calling, insults, mockery, threats;
• physical: hitting, pushing, blocking someone’s way;
• relational: leaving someone out of the group, spreading rumours, encouraging others not to talk to someone;
• against belongings: taking, hiding or damaging someone’s things;
• online (cyberbullying): hurtful messages, posting photos or videos without consent, excluding someone from groups, fake accounts.

A one-off argument between two classmates is not usually bullying. But an argument also needs to be resolved, with the help of an adult if necessary.

In Romanian schools, bullying is prohibited by law. The ban was introduced by Law no. 221/2019, and the implementing rules were approved by Order of the Minister of Education and Research no. 4.343/2020. You can find more details in the Ministry of Education’s press release.

If you are being bullied or you see a classmate being bullied:

• Tell an adult you trust. This could be your primary teacher, your form teacher, another teacher, the school counsellor, the head teacher or your parents.
• Do not respond with violence. Walk away from the situation if you can.
• If it happens online, keep the evidence. Take screenshots and do not delete the messages. Block the person and report the account on the platform.
• It is not your fault. Nobody deserves to be humiliated or hurt.

If you see a classmate being bullied, do not join in and do not laugh. Stand by them and tell an adult. That is not “telling tales”, it is helping.

Some signs may show that a child is being bullied: they no longer want to go to school, their belongings are damaged or missing, they have bruises they cannot explain, they sleep or eat less well, they become withdrawn or irritable, they avoid their phone or become very anxious when they receive messages.

What you can do:

1. Listen to your child calmly and tell them they did the right thing by telling you.
2. Write down what happened: when, where and who was involved. Keep the screenshots.
3. Contact the primary teacher or form teacher. If the situation is not resolved, contact the head teacher.
4. You can also submit a written complaint to the school’s school office. It will be given a registration number.
5. Do not try to resolve the situation yourself with the child who is bullying or with their family.

You can report a case of bullying, verbally or in writing, to:

Under the rules in Order no. 4.343/2020, every school has an anti-bullying action group. Its members include the head teacher, the school counsellor, teachers, and representatives of pupils and parents. The group is responsible for preventing, identifying and resolving bullying situations.

What happens after a report. The school:

• talks to the children involved, separately, and to any witnesses;
• informs the parents of the children involved;
• takes measures to stop the bullying and to keep the bullied child safe;
• offers support, including counselling, both to the child who was bullied and to the child who did the bullying;
• keeps monitoring the situation in the following weeks.

Confidentiality. Reports are treated confidentially. The name of the child who reported and the details of the case are known only to the people who need to take action. The school does not publish information about individual cases.

If you are not satisfied with the way the school has handled the situation, you can contact the Bistrița-Năsăud County School Inspectorate.

Helpline hours may change. Please check each service’s website.