The National Day to Combat Bullying and Violence in Schools, celebrated on April 7, highlights the importance of tackling a serious problem that affects thousands of children and adolescents around the world. Bullying not only causes behavioral and psychological disorders, but also generates physical and emotional insecurity in the school environment. To deal with this issue, the State Department of Education of Minas Gerais (SEE/MG) has implemented effective initiatives to prevent and combat this type of discriminatory behavior in state schools.
The Secretariat maintains permanent actions to ensure emotional safety in the school environment throughout the education network. The Educational Reception Centers, for example, operate from the perspective of collective work, within schools, and are articulated with other intersectoral policies. With 230 centers and 460 professionals, including psychologists and social workers, these professionals create effective action plans to combat bullying.
The coordinator of Special Themes and Curricular Transversality at SEE/MG, Rosália Diniz, believes that these initiatives have a huge responsibility in developing actions to combat bullying. “The NAE centers hold lectures, conversation circles, projects and also directly support the work of teachers in promoting human rights and preventing various forms of violence.”
Other actions and partnerships
Furthermore, SEE/MG created the Democratic Coexistence Program, in line with Law 23,366/2019, which establishes the State Policy for Peace in Schools. This program includes protocols that standardize the procedures to be adopted in the state education network in cases of human rights violations, including the practice of bullying. The work of the Military Police of Minas Gerais (PMMG) in partnership with the Secretariat, through frequent patrols of the School Patrol Program, also contributes to curbing acts of violence in the school environment and its surroundings.
“The secretariat constantly seeks to guide teachers, managers and all members of the school community and it is everyone’s role to act effectively and together to protect students”, adds coordinator Rosália.
In this sense, SEE/MG also offers the course “Mental and Emotional Health in Schools”, in partnership with the Mapfre Foundation, aimed at all educators in the network, with the aim of addressing mental health, destructive behaviors and how they affect the health.
This year, SEE/MG also began implementing the Socio-Emotional Project, aiming to promote teaching-learning actions aimed at improving coexistence between students. This project seeks to encourage dialogue, respect, empathy, inclusion and friendship, contributing significantly to improving the school climate.
In partnership with the School of Training and Professional Development of Educators at SEE/MG, the Secretariat developed a class on bullying and cyberbullying, which will be broadcast this Thursday (11/4), 8:30 am, on Rede Minas, through of the Se Liga na Educação program.
School projects
At João de Deus Gomes State School, in Ribeirão das Neves, the Educational Reception Center (NAE) has worked in partnership with nine schools from the Regional Education Superintendence (SRE) Metropolitan C to promote good coexistence practices among students. NAE professionals developed a project focused on creating a safe and welcoming environment, where students are educated about the consequences of bullying.
Social worker Maria Auxiliadora Carvalho Gomes, who is part of the NAE team in the region, assessed that combating bullying in the school environment is a challenging issue, due to the culture of silence and the fear of victims. “That’s why we developed these projects, so that we can change the culture and create a safe and welcoming environment, physically and emotionally, for students. In this sense, sharing information is fundamental,” she comments.
In Leopoldina, Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais, the NAE held conversation circles in state schools in the city and districts, addressing the topic: “Bullying and its legal and social consequences”. Social worker Ana Carla Alvarenga Pimentel explained that working on the issue and addressing its consequences is essential for students to understand the different ways in which the act presents itself and thus be able to identify bullying in their surroundings.
“We publicize the new legislation so that students understand the legal and emotional implications that can occur in the lives of both victims and aggressors. We also opened a democratic space so that they could talk about their experience, through active and understanding listening.”
Lei 14.811/2024
Law 14,811/2024, in force since January 2024, provides for measures to protect children and adolescents against violence in educational establishments. It includes bullying and cyberbullying as crimes in the Penal Code and transforms them into heinous crimes provided for in the Child and Adolescent Statute. Bullying is defined as “systematically intimidating one or more people, intentionally and repetitively, without evident motivation”, while Cyberbullying is characterized by bullying in the digital environment, with a prison sentence of two to four years and a fine.