Czechs Move To Stop Cyberbullying

The Czech education ministry has drawn up guidelines to try and halt the spread of cyberbullying in schools.

After some Czech pupils attempted to blackmail teachers by posting video clips of them online, the Czech education ministry is trying to stop cyberbullying by laying down new guidelines for schools.

Cyberbullying is done via text, e-mail, or online, and generally involves one pupil bullying another outside school. This attempted blackmail of teachers is a different track, however.

Ministry spokesman Tomas Bouska told the BBC that under the new guidelines schools would be able to do more than simply confiscate mobile phones or banning them during class. Instead, teachers can move offending pupils to another class or invite the parents in to talk. Repeate offenders can receive a police caution.

The issue came to a head in June when a mobile phone video clip of a teacher slapping a pupil was posted online. The boy was told off for having a messy desk and slapped when he answered back, after which the boy left the classroom, according to Radio Prague.

"There was a huge debate about it," Bouska noted. "People asked: ‘If it is put online is that a crime? After all, it’s a crime to slap a child’."