The College of Education at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in cooperation with the Ministry of Education organized a seminar to ‘Unite against Bullying’ on Sunday, 29^th October, 2017. It was held in the Crescent Building at UAEU. The seminar was attended by Professor Bernard Oliver, Dean of the College of Education; Professor Salah Al Hosani, Head of the Community Partnerships Department at the Ministry of Education; Professor Ahmed Al Najar, Head of the Psychology Department, Dr. Sara Al Ali from the Curriculum Department and a number of experts in the field of education.

Professor Oliver explained that, “the College of Education, the Ministry of Education and the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood want to study bullying in schools to discover the size of the problem and how it affects students in order to develop solutions that will lead to a better, safer and happier educational environment for our students.”

Professor Al Hosani added that, “the anti-bullying program was established after reviewing 13 successful international programs and in cooperation with UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and the Abu Dhabi Education Council. It has been trialed in 64 schools in the UAE and has decreased the number of students being bullied in schools, thus improving relationships between students.”

Professor Al Najar gave a presentation, in which he explained the phenomenon of bullying and its different forms in schools and wider society. This talk included cyber-bullying, the family’s role in combating bullying and the most common strategies to face the problem. The presenters talked about the best international anti-bullying practices and students from the College of Education performed a play about bullying in schools.

At the end of the seminar, Professor Oliver thanked the participants and stressed UAEU’s desire to promote education in the UAE by developing the best research-based approaches to combat various issues.