School sued after pupil bullied on YouTube
A school in southern Sweden might have to pay damages for failing to help a student who was subjected to kicks, punches and verbal abuse by fellow students for two years.
The student at a school in Simrishamn, in southern Sweden, had to endure constant physical and verbal abuse from other students at his school.
Apart from being kicked and punched, the boy also had objects thrown at him and his clothes ruined on more than one occasion.
At one point, one of the incidents was filmed and put on YouTube.
The school made attempts to combat the bullying but failed to put a stop to the abuse.
However, according to the Swedish Child-and-Student Ombudsman (Barn- och elevombudet, BEO), the school didn’t do enough. The Ombudsman has therefore demanded that the local authority pay damages to the boy.
The claim of 160,000 kronor ($24,300) is one of the largest in a bullying case in Sweden.
Christer Grankvist, a deputy chairman in the local authority’s child–and education-board, told news agency TT that what has happened is unfortunate and that the municipality has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying.
“The whole process has meant that the school has reviewed their policies and taken step to ensure this will not happen again,” he told TT.
The school has until December 19th to show a plan for dealing with bullying in the future and to decide what to do about the claim.
“My guess is that they will pay,” Grankvist told TT.
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The student at a school in Simrishamn, in southern Sweden, had to endure constant physical and verbal abuse from other students at his school.
Apart from being kicked and punched, the boy also had objects thrown at him and his clothes ruined on more than one occasion.
At one point, one of the incidents was filmed and put on YouTube.
The school made attempts to combat the bullying but failed to put a stop to the abuse.
However, according to the Swedish Child-and-Student Ombudsman (Barn- och elevombudet, BEO), the school didn’t do enough. The Ombudsman has therefore demanded that the local authority pay damages to the boy.
The claim of 160,000 kronor ($24,300) is one of the largest in a bullying case in Sweden.
Christer Grankvist, a deputy chairman in the local authority’s child–and education-board, told news agency TT that what has happened is unfortunate and that the municipality has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying.
“The whole process has meant that the school has reviewed their policies and taken step to ensure this will not happen again,” he told TT.
The school has until December 19th to show a plan for dealing with bullying in the future and to decide what to do about the claim.
“My guess is that they will pay,” Grankvist told TT.
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