Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan visited the Sweileh Secondary School for Girls yesterday. There, she was able to show her support for a new campaign “Say No to Bullying” to combat bullying in schools. It also works to offer innovative solutions to stop its spread.
The anti-bullying campaign was launched by Aziz Maraka, a Jordanian singer, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Queen Rania initiative – Madrasati. The latter, launched in 2008, was created to bring improvement to the learning environments in schools in Jordan.
Upon her arrival at the Sweileh Secondary School for Girls, Queen Rania was welcomed and received by Mervat Khatatneh, the school’s principal, and Tala Sweis, the director of Madrasati. The stop at the school began with her getting to participate in a workshop and hear a discussion on fighting bullying. This workshop was organised by Madrasati and discussed the core causes of bullying and its impacts on the victims. Children from various grades took part and also heard about ways to keep bullying from happening. Her Majesty’s Press Office added, “It also addressed the equally dangerous problem of cyberbullying and its modern-day pervasiveness.”
The Queen also took the time to share her thoughts during the workshop saying that bullying must be fought in all forms. She added that online bullying is one of the most dangerous forms because the culprits, in many cases, are anonymous.
She went on to warn the students and other participants “of the wide distribution of photos and videos through social media that show students being victimised and bullied, which can hurt them and their families, and go as far as causing depression, frustration, and even suicide.”
Queen Rania went on to speak to the children and watch them partake in a hands-on activity designed to use different forms of expression to raise awareness of the increasing bullying problem. Then, the “Say No to Bullying” founder, Aziz Maraka, performed on the school playground in front of a pledge-wall. This was created to have students reject bullying by placing their handprints on it, Her Majesty’s Office explained. Maraka’s pop-up concert was funded by Orange, Toyota, and Careem.