Bullying Behavior among Secondary School Students in Hai District, Kilimanjaro Region,Tanzania
Joyce J. Mboya
Department of Education Foundations, St. Augustine University of Tanzania, United Republic of Tanzania.
Justine Matiko Alloph
*
Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM), Tanzania, United Republic of Tanzania.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The study assessed the extent to which bullying behavior exists among secondary school students in Hai District, Moshi Region-Tanzania. Mixed approaches, and convergent parallel design were applied in this study. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews. The study collected data from the sample of one hundred and seventy-one (171) persons selected from 13,945 target population. The SPSS software package was used to examine quantitative data while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study show that, bullying behaviour exists in Secondary schools at Hai district. The study concludes that, the rate of bullying acts such as hitting, beating, stealing, senior students oppressing junior students, gossiping and spread rumours about others, use of insulting words, bad name-calling and excessive punishment were practiced by students in schools. It has impact to students‟ academic achievement and the whole life in general. The study recommended that policy makers should encourage the practice of effective control of bullying in schools by formulating anti-bullying policies to guide effectiveness in bullying management.
Keywords: Bullying, bullying behavior, students, secondary school students