About 15 per cent of second-level pupils are now subject to regular bullying by fellow pupils, which in extreme cases can lead to suicide, a leading psychiatrist warned yesterday.
Dr Maria Lawlor, a consultant child psychiatrist with the North Eastern Health Board, said bullying among boys took the form of physical intimidation, while in girls' schools psychological damage was inflicted.
Dr Lawlor was speaking as the health board published two booklets on the subject, Responding to Bullying and Investigating and Resolving Bullying in School.
She said while the extent of the problem was probably about the same as a decade ago, the problem of youth aggression was growing. She said bullying among school boys often involved lunches being taken or bags or jackets being stolen. In girls' schools, she said, hurtful comments were often passed about the victim, often about their weight or appearance.
She said while many schools had anti-bullying policies in place, these were no use if the school principal was not focused on the problem. One of the biggest problems was getting pupils to report the problem to staff. Research showed only about one-third were prepared to do this.
The booklets attempt to tell schools about the options available to them if bullying arises. The North Eastern Health Board, in conjunction with the Department of Education, is conducting a pilot project called the "Cool School Programme" which aims to seriously tackle the problem.
Speaking at an event to mark the publication of the booklets, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey said it was hard to imagine anything more central to the purpose of education than concern about bullying.
"For bullying strikes at the very heart of the number one objective of all education and that is, the humanisation of society, the sensitisation of society.
"Particularly noteworthy in the booklets," Mr Dempsey said, "is the emphasis on the prevention of bullying. Very often bullying can go on for quite a long time before it is brought to the attention of the school authorities."