Bullying on the rise at schools and online
One in four schoolchildren has been the victim of bullying, a problem well documented in other countries but only now appearing in Greece, experts say. A study by the Association for the Psychosocial Health of Children and Adolescents in Athens shows that 22.5 percent of schoolchildren have suffered some form of verbal or physical bullying – in the schoolyard, the classroom or even on the Internet. «Intimidation has arrived in Greek schools and is affecting hundreds of children,» said Stamatis Antoniou, psychology professor at Manchester Business School. Antoniou said most victims were depressive and anti-social and called on teachers to encourage them to communicate. In a related development, police in Athens said they had traced four young people who had posted messages on the Internet expressing their intention of taking their own lives.
