What is defined by school violence or “bullying”, according to the law?
What the law defines is “school bullying”, which in simple terms is: any act of aggression or repeated harassment, carried out by students who attempt against another student, using a situation of superiority or defenselessness of the victim, which causes mistreatment, humiliation or a well-founded fear of being exposed to a serious evil. These aggressive acts can be committed by a single student or by a group, and can be both inside and outside the educational establishment.
Violence or harassment, can it be by any means?
Any means, be it physical, psychological and even through the use of technologies, such as the Internet or cell phones.
Does the law only consider the actions of students in cases of harassment?
No. The law also considers adults belonging to the educational community as perpetrators of bullying, being cases of special gravity when they also hold a position of authority within the educational community, such as principals or teachers.
Who are responsible for preventing bullying?
It is the responsibility of the students, parents, guardians, professionals and educational assistants, teachers and managers to promote a school climate that promotes good coexistence and thus prevent all types of harassment.
In addition, management personnel, teachers, educational assistants and people who perform administrative and auxiliary functions in all educational establishments must receive training on promoting good school coexistence and handling conflict situations.
Should there be organized groups in the establishments that should be in charge of maintaining a good school climate?
The School Council that must exist in each educational establishment that receives contributions from the State will have the additional function of promoting good school coexistence and avoiding any type of aggression, harassment and physical or psychological violence towards students.
Likewise, private establishments that do not have the obligation to have a School Council must create a Committee for Good School Coexistence (or another similar entity) to fulfill this task.
In addition, all educational establishments must have a person in charge of school coexistence, which will be responsible for implementing the actions determined by the School Council or the School Coexistence Committee, as appropriate. Such actions must be included in a management plan .
How to report a case of bullying or school violence?
Parents, guardians, professionals and teachers of the educational community who have knowledge of a case of school violence, must report it to the establishment according to its internal regulations. Said regulation must incorporate prevention policies, pedagogical measures, action protocols and various behaviors that constitute a lack of good school coexistence, graduating them according to their severity, in addition to establishing the disciplinary measures corresponding to such behaviors.
If the establishment authorities do not apply the corrective, disciplinary or pedagogical measures that its regulations dictate for these cases, they may be sanctioned with fines of up to 50 UTM, which will be doubled in case of recidivism.
What are the penalties for school violence?
The sanctions are determined by each establishment according to its internal regulations, and can range from a pedagogical measure to the cancellation of enrollment.
