Mayo student helps inform new action plan on bullying

THE Minister for Education, Norma Foley, has launched the Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying.

This landmark new action plan is dedicated to the prevention and addressing of bullying, cyber bullying, racism, gender identity bullying or sexual harassment, among other areas, in schools.

Developed by the Department of Education in collaboration with a diverse and dedicated steering committee led by Dr. Noel Purdy of Stranmillis University College in Belfast, Cineáltas has been informed by the views of children and young people, parents, school staff, education partners and individual members of the public and places the students at the very heart of the plan.

Mohammad Naeem, a Leaving Cert student from Claremorris, was involved with the youth advisory group set up to help the department consult young people in Ireland on their views on bullying.

The group were further given the opportunity to directly feed into the action plan and then further organised two consultations, one for primary school students and one for post-primary students.

Mohammad MC’d the post-primary consultation at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in May of this year.

He attended the launch of the report at the Aviva Stadium.

Mohammad stated: “Being involved with the early consultation processes and now reading the action plan, it’s amazing to see how many actions from this plan directly came from what was said at the consultations by young people. One of the key actions that I am really looking forward to see how it progresses is the establishment of a student voice unit in the department.”

He added: “This was the first time a youth advisory group was set up to directly feed into the work of the department. I also look forward to seeing more of this, especially with the establishment of the student voice unit.”