In my former school in Islamabad, throughout the sixth and seventh grades, from time to time, I and my classmates were the target of bullying.

A boy, let’s call him ‘A’ would get bullied both verbally and physically. He was bullied on account of his petite stature. No one seemed to realise what a difficult position he was in.

‘A’ was emotionally affected, and this distracted him from his main priorities, studies. ‘A’ persuaded his parents to get him transferred to another school. Seeing that his academic performance was slowly plummeting, they agreed, with no questions asked.

For a week ‘A’ had been absent, which was peculiar as he was rarely absent or tardy. Two days later, I caught a glimpse of a meeting taking place in the principal’s office. ‘A’ was crying and was explaining to the principal that he was seeking a transfer from the school due to bullying. The principal dealt with the matter in an awfully casual manner and never followed it up by any serious action. ‘A’ left shortly thereafter.

In grade seven, I too was bullied for having shorter hair than usual. I had donated 12 inches of my hair to cancer patients after which some students from the ninth and 10th grade called me “bald” and said that I needed a hair transplant.

I took these comments lightly but I realised how ‘A’ must have felt, because he had no one to talk to and dealt with his situation by suppressing his emotions. As the school did not seem to take any visible action, I formed a student body known as the ‘Anti-bullying Club’. Students from any grade could come to us and discuss anything that was causing them stress. It helped more people than we expected, especially students of grades four and five. It gave us a sense of leadership and at the same time gave support and comfort to fellow students. Students found it easier to talk to someone closer to their own age. If the matter was too serious, we would bring it to the school authority’s attention. It left a big impact and helped many.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 28th, 2017