DOHA: Qatari primary schools rank high in the world in incidents of bullying, a study of education standards has found. In the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which surveyed schools in nearly 40 countries, 31 percent of Qatari fourth grade students said they had suffered bullying.

Dr Mozah Malki, a Qatari psychologist, blamed the school authorities for this problem.

“Teachers and supervisors of schools are responsible for this behaviour by children,”

she said.

“Bullying will have a negative impact on a child’s life,” she added, and stressed the need for strict anti-bullying programmes in schools.

TIMSS has defined bullying as having something stolen, being hit or hurt by another student, left out, made fun of, or made to do something you don’t want to do.

Students were asked whether they had experienced any of these five anti-social behaviours in the past month: whether something belonging to them had been stolen; whether they had been hurt by other students; whether they had been made to do anything against their will; whether they had been teased; and whether they had been excluded by others.

Internationally, 42 percent of primary school students said they had experienced none of the behaviours.

Dr Malki explained that a student who gets bullied psychologically do the same to others. “I have seen the result of bullying and treated such students in my clinic. There have been several cases with such psychological elements.”

The survey was conducted last year and the results were only released this week. The results, sampled the equivalent of fourth grade students in 36 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Tunisia, Taiwan and Kuwait. Almost 50 percent of Australian primary school students suffer bullying.

Tunisia, with 28 percent of the students reporting bullying, had a better record, while in Taiwan 35 percent of the students had suffered bullying.