It has been estimated that approximately 20% of students between the ages of 12 and 18 have experienced bullying during the school year. Some of this is verbal harassment, but there is also social harassment, physical bullying, and cyberbullying.

Bullying has a significant impact not only on those who are being bullied but also on people observing the bullying and even the bullies themselves. That’s why it’s extremely important that everyone takes responsibility for the problem and puts an end to bullying once and for all.

A holiday that attempts to address this issue is the World Day of Bullying Prevention, and we encourage everyone to consider observing it.

The History of World Day of Bullying Prevention

This holiday was first created by David Shepherd and Travis Price in 2007. They saw a fellow student named Jadrien Cota being picked on for wearing a pink shirt, so they decided to make a stand. They went home and purchased 50 pink shirts and handed them out at their school. This encouraged everyone to take a stand against bullying.

Pretty soon, people started observing the day as an anti-bullying day. It was observed in Canada next, and then in 2012, the United Nations turned it into an anti-bullying campaign and encouraged member states to also promote the holiday.

Important Facts About Bullying

We’ve compiled a list of some of the facts that we’ve learned about bullying that we would now like to share with everyone below. We hope that the following facts will open a lot of people’s eyes and make them more aware of the problem of bullying. Let’s go ahead and check out these facts.

• Approximately 160,000+ teens have skipped school over the previous school year because of bullying.
• Over 57% of bullying stops when another student intervenes on behalf of the student being bullied.
• As students get older, they are less likely to report the bullying that’s happening to them.
• Over 50% of students who are bullied believe that their bully can influence the opinions of other students against them.
• It has been estimated that 6th-grade students experience the most bullying, although students of all ages can experience bullying.

Observing World Day of Bullying Prevention

Everyone everywhere is encouraged to take a stand against bullying, not only on this day but every day of the year. That means being vigilant and taking a stand when bullying is identified. We also encourage people to spread the word about this day using the hashtag #WorldDayOfBullyingPrevention on social media.