By JESSE GRAHAM
A HEALESVILLE High School student has been awarded with a new iPad after winning a Department of Education anti-bulling competition online.
Megan Deuchar, a year nine student at the school, said she found the anti-bullying competition while browsing online, and that she just had to answer three simple multiple choice questions.
She said one of the questions was about who a person should go to if they feel as if they are being bullied – she answered with “a responsible person, such as an adult”.
More than 1000 people entered the online competition, which is part of the Bully Stoppers program, and Healesville High School Principal George Perini congratulated Megan for winning the prize.
“I think it shows that our young people do think about these issues,” Mr Perini said.
He said bullying was an important issue to be addressed in schools.
“It’s about prevention – having empathy to the needs of others, and we really invest heavily in that, in the junior school,” he said.
Megan said that bullying still happens in schools and that more people needed to understand the consequences.
“It happens, a bit unintentionally and subconsciously – it’s true that people sometimes don’t understand the impact of bullying,” she said.
Mr Perini said that any issues, major or minor, were dealt with by the school team and that the issue of bullying in particular was “taken seriously and dealt with immediately”.
For more information on the Education Department’s Bully Stopper’s program or advice about bullying visit www.education.vic.gov.au.
