International Day against Violence and Bullying at School, including Cyberbullying
Every first Thursday of November, the international community recognises that school violence in all its forms infringes children and adolescents’ rights to education and to health and well-being. This year, UNESCO has chosen a telling motto for its Member State dialogue: moving from promise to practice. Declarations are no longer enough. What matters is knowing what actually works, and applying it.
The scale of the problem is well documented. According to UNESCO’s report Behind the numbers, more than 30% of the world’s students have been victims of bullying. With so much of young people’s social life now online, harassment no longer stays at the school gate. It follows students home on their phones.
Last year, Daily27 published a first-person account of the path from isolation to zero violence. That account showed something research confirms again and again. One of the main barriers to combating bullying is the silence of its victims. Silence is not an individual failing. It is produced by environments where defending the victim carries a social cost.
This is why the most promising interventions target the group, not only the aggressor or the victim. The Zero Violence Brave Club is one example, associated with reductions in school bullying through a culture of zero tolerance to violence. A recent study of six schools implementing it shows how it turns schools into safe spaces where children feel able to speak up about violence, protect victims and distance themselves from aggressors, with benefits for their health and well-being.
The lesson also applies to cyberbullying. As we discussed in What if social media bans are not the answer to online harm?, keeping children away from screens does not, on its own, change the norms that make harassment acceptable. Those norms are built, and can be transformed, in everyday interactions at school, at home and online. As we argued in 2024, facing bullying requires scientific evidence of social impact, not intuitions or hoaxes.
Moving from promise to practice means that every school can choose actions that have already proven effective. No child should have to choose between staying silent and standing alone.
References
- Galar, A., Cañaveras, P., Pulido, C., López de Aguileta, A., López de Aguileta, G., & Flecha, R. (2025). The Healthy Effects of MeToo Schools: A Qualitative Analysis of Six Schools Implementing the Zero Violence Brave Club. Healthcare, 13(7), 739.
- UNESCO (2019). Behind the numbers: Ending school violence and bullying.
- UNESCO. International Day against Violence and Bullying at School, including Cyberbullying.
- UNESCO (2026). Every learner safe and well: from promise to practice – Member State dialogue.
PhD in Sociology from the University of Barcelona. Early Childhood Education Teacher. Substitute Teacher at the Universitat de València.