Description

INTRODUCTION Bullying is an act of repeated aggression or inflicting harm on a helpless or defenceless victim. It is the use of a systematic and repeated aggressive behaviour against some students by other partners in a situation of a power imbalance between those who perpetrate the act of aggression on the one hand and those who are on the receiving end on the other. As a general definition of bullying or victimization Olweus (1997) noted that "A student is being bullied or victimised when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students." According to Olweus (1997), bullying is characterized by (a) aggressive behaviour or "harmdoing"; (b) is carried out "repeatedly and over time" and (c) in an interpersonal relationship characterized by an imbalance of power. Bullying behaviour often takes place without apparent provocation that one can add as an additional criterion. 1.1 DEFINITION OF BULLYING It is essential to consider some of the definitions forwarded by scholars to standardize understanding of bullying among readers. Olweus (2010) recommends that those people who study/measure "bullying" or bully/victim problems should provide the participants of their study with a precise definition of the bullying phenomenon. Ananiadou and Smith (2002) also contend that in any society the issue of interpretation is critical for exact statistics on the incidence of bullying. It will help to study the developmental changes in perceptions of bullying on the part of children, adolescents and adults, for the evaluation of the effectiveness of different interventions to battle bullying and clarification of individual rights and legal responsibilities. As one of the early studies on bullying, Farrington (1993) defines bullying as: "Bullying is repeated oppression, psychological or physical, of a less powerful person by a more powerful one" (p.381). The author noted some time continuity between bullying and violent crime. Sharp and Smith (1994) define bullying as "Bullying is a form of aggressive behaviour which is usually hurtful and deliberate; it is often persistent, sometimes continuing for weeks, months or even years and it is difficult for those being bullied to defend themselves. Underlying most bullying behaviours is an abuse of power and a desire to intimidate and dominate" (p.1). Olweus (1997) as a general definition of bullying or victimization noted that: "A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part,