Students attend anti-bullying forum

Students attend anti-bullying forum

19 February 2020

STUDENTS from local schools attended the first ever Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Young People’s Forum at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, on Friday.

Over 100 young people from schools and colleges across Northern Ireland were joined by pupils from St Patrick’s Grammar School, Downpatrick, and Assumption Grammar School, Ballynahinch. 

The landmark event was organised by the Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (NIABF), and hosted by the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), with funding from the Department of Education.

Young people in attendance worked in committees and heard about work undertaken to address bullying but it also allowed those young people to highlight issues and make a further call to action for responsible adults to support them in reducing the levels of bullying experienced by them and/or their contemporaries.

MLAs from across the spectrum supported the event which was facilitated by the NI Assembly Education Service. The Speaker of the Assembly, Alex Maskey, granted use of the chamber for the debate-style event and Education Minister Peter Weir provided the opening statement. The NI Commissioner for Children and Young People, Koulla Yiasouma, also spoke at the event.

Gill Hassard, Senior Participation Officer at NCB, which hosted the event, said: “We feel that it is important to empower young people to engage with the formal decision-making structures that exist in our society, so that their views, opinions and concerns can be reflected in government policy.”