The decree in force from 16 July enhances the number 114 operating 24 hours a day for the victims and introduces new responsibilities for parents
68.5% of children between 11 and 19 years old in Italy underwent at least one episode of bullying or cyberbullying in the last year. From today the legislative decree that introduces new provisions comes into force with the aim of strengthening the protection of minors on the net and school, but which also arouses perplexity between unions and educating community, worried about the lack of resources. What changes for parents and kids?
Bullying and cyberbullying: public number 114 h24 and seven days out of seven
The central novelty is the Enhancement of the public number “Childhood emergency 114”from now operational 24 hours a day and seven days out of seven throughout Italy. By calling the number the boys (and families) victims of bullying and cyberbullying receive psychological, legal and psycho -pedagogical assistance. In the most serious cases, the service can directly inform the police, guaranteeing quick interventions. In addition to the telephone line and the site, the service offers a free App of 114. The boys will thus be able to ask for help in confidential form using the instant messaging chat, and activate the geolocation function, facilitating the intervention in case of immediate danger.
The decree also introduces one Biennial detection of Istat On bullying and cyberbullying phenomena, with an annual relationship to the rooms to monitor the phenomenon and measure the effectiveness of the measures implemented, in particular in secondary schools. The first report will be done by 2026. Periodic information campaigns are then planned in collaboration with schools and the Ministry of Education.
The decree, in force from today, also introduces an explicit call to article 2048 of the civil code, By more incisively responsible for the parents for the illicit acts committed by the minor children. Unions and educating community raised some doubts. The FLC CGIL, for example, criticizes the measure, considering it “excessively sanctioning and without an adequate educational vision”. And many underline the worrying lack of dedicated funds, especially to schools to deal with the problem.
Bullying and cyberbullying, Istat data: 68% of the boys are victims
The new decree comes after the last Istat survey on the phenomenon: almost seven out of ten boys between 11 and 19 years (68.5%) declare that they have undergone at least one episode of bullying, online or offline, in the previous 12 months. A figure that rises to 71% among the young people of the North-West and remains high also in the South, where 66.5% of the boys say they have experienced harassment experiences. The data relating to the frequency of episodes are also worrying: 21% of the boys have undergone bullying several times a month, while 8% are victims of them several times a week. The youngest are particularly affected, with 23.7% of children between the ages of 11 and 13 involved, and foreign children, among which there is an incidence of 26.8% against 20.4% of Italian peers. The phenomenon takes on different connotations according to the genre: if for males direct offenses represent the most widespread form of violence (16%), among the girls the phenomenon occurs more often through social exclusion (over 12%). On the cyberbullying front, 34% of the young interviewees said they had undergone at least one online episode in the previous year, with 7.8% that speaks of online harassment suffered several times a month, a slightly higher figure among boys (8.9%) than girls (6.6%).
