Concejal of Family and Equality of Opportunities, Miryam Rodríguez, and the president of the Salamantine Association Against Bullying and Cyberbullying (Ascbyc), Carmen Guillén, presented today the schedule of activities around the International Day Against School Bullying, which takes place on May 2 to raise awareness about the risks to children and young people, as well as to prevent and avoid violence in educational centers, a day when a reception will be held at the City Hall for representatives of the association.
On that day, an information booth will be set up in the afternoon at Liceo Square, where one of Ascbyc’s recent initiatives in collaboration with the City Council, the ‘Traffic Light against Violence’, will also be present, which aims to help identify any manifestation of violent behavior or attitude of bullying or cyberbullying in any of its forms that may occur in relationships between peers both in and out of the classroom. At night, the Zamora Gate fountain will be illuminated in blue, and throughout the day, messages of social awareness will be disseminated on informational panels distributed throughout the city.
On May 12, in the Minor Hall of the Hospedería Fonseca, a training day entitled ‘Bullying, Minors, and the Law’ will be held, with the participation of, among others, Tomás Luis Martín Rodríguez, a judge from the Court of Violence against Children and Adolescents of the Canaries, the first in Spain in this field.
On May 23, an orientation treasure hunt will take place in the city, starting from Liceo Square, where students will visit various points on a map to collect messages against school bullying. They will also have a guide to explain the history of each location.
Finally, on May 25, a solidarity motorcycle rally will depart from La Alamedilla Park to Sardón de los Frailes, with a previous stop in Ledesma.
More than 32,000 student participants in school workshops organized by the City Council
Miryam Rodríguez highlighted the municipal collaboration for the development of actions aimed at the prevention, sensitization, and detection of school bullying situations in all its forms, as a result of the Municipal Commission for the Prevention of School Bullying, created in 2017 to coordinate and enhance the City Council’s actions related to the prevention of this serious social problem.
This cross-cutting action, which reinforces the work of other administrations, educators, and associations to help both the victims of this social scourge and their families, is carried out through the Family School, with preventive and intervention actions to prevent bullying and avoid behaviors that can trigger physical or psychological harm; the Health School, where the issue is addressed from the emotional well-being of young people; and the Salamanca City of Culture and Knowledge Foundation in the field of education.
The program ‘Addressing violence among peers’ carries out pedagogical and interactive workshops for 887 students from sixth grade to fourth grade of secondary education, divided into 37 groups from 16 educational centers, based on the detection of this problem by the Family and Child Protection Section.
During the last academic year 2023-2024, 46 activities were carried out, with the participation of 32,430 students, on cybersecurity and cyberbullying, social networks, conflict prevention and school mediation, equal opportunities, diversity and tolerance, frustration management, self-control techniques, affective-sexual education, and emotional education for the use of new technologies, among other subjects.
Through the Family School, 55 sessions were held with 932 parents from 22 educational centers, who received information and advice for making informed decisions, tips from professionals in education and family psychology, as well as training and guidance on the various stages of children’s developmental evolution.