NATIONAL Police in the Region of Murcia believe they have 'clear indications' that a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide had been bullied at school.
“Her parents, the regional government and practically everyone else has said so,” reveals Cirilio Durán, head of the force.
It will now be up to the prosecution to determine the severity and extent of the abusive treatment the teenager, named Lucía G.M., had to put up with daily from her classmates, the two suspected main culprits of which have since been suspended.
“What is certainly clear is that, it seems, and her parents have said so, that the young girl suffered psychological problems arising from the pressure that some of her classmates at school were exerting on her some months ago rather than very recently,” Durán said in a press conference yesterday (Friday).
He claims 'neither the police nor the prosecution' were aware she was being bullied, and says the incidents happened 'over six months ago in a different school'.
“Actions were inflicted on the schoolgirl which could lead to a situation of great conern,” Durán says, adding that it will be 'up to the mental health professionals' to explain why the teen was in counselling before her death.
Meanwhile, the State Confederation of Student Associations has called for a meeting with education, culture and sports minister Íñigo Méndez de Vigo to tackle the issue of mental and physical abuse between school colleagues.
Chairman Carles López, passing on his condolences to Lucía's family (pictured at her funeral on Thursday) and friends, says the ministry's anti-bullying programme 'does not go far enough'.
Although it is generally agreed that the freephone helpline – 900 018 018 – which can be called by teachers, bullying victims, or their parents and friends, anonymously if required, is a valuable tool, the Confederation does not think it is sufficient on its own to curb the problem.
Since the line opened in November, a total of 1,955 cases of bullying have been confirmed from the 5,552 calls made.
Teachers' unions have voiced their devastation at the news of Lucía's suicide, but praised those tutors in Spain who do manage to detect bullying and recognise the difficult task they have in confirming cases and in deciding how to deal with them.
“We are all too well aware of the problem of overcrowding in classrooms, continuous discrimination against school staff and the excess of pointless bureaucracy they face on top of their already heavy workloads,” a union spokesperson commented.
“In these conditions, and aggravated by the ongoing policies of funding cuts affecting our education system, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to attend to other situations, such as bullying, which affect pupils.
“We consider it totally necessary to bring back previous numbers of teachers, teaching assistants and school guidance officers, who were drastically reduced in 2011 when the PP government came into power, and it is vital that we reduce the teacher-pupil ratio in the classroom.”
Lucía, from the tied Murcia hamlet of Aljucer, was picked on for several years with insults about her appearance, being called 'fat' and 'ugly', to the point where she believed herself to be both and suffered a crushing lack of self-confidence.
The bullying started when she was in primary school and continued after she moved from the Licenciado Francisco Cascales high school in Murcia to the Ingeniero Juan de la Cierva de Patiño secondary school in the city, where the bullies attended.
Lucía had written a suicide note at the end of December, which was found by a janitor at her former high school, was handed in to the head teacher, and then passed to her parents.
Lucía's schools had been made aware of the problem, and she was being closely monitored at the new centre to ensure she was safe and that any incidences would be stamped on.
One of the pupils had been suspended for five days and another for a day, several months before Lucía took her own life, and a report from the head teacher said they both 'admitted to their behaviour' and 'promised not to bother Lucía any more'.
The pupil who had been suspended for the longest wrote an apology letter to Lucía.
It is not known whether they bullied her again after this, but the damage appears to have already been done – her parents say she 'hated herself' because she was convinced she was 'fat and ugly'.
Lucía's parents, the police, the education community and Save the Children have urged anyone who suffers from, or witnesses bullying to report it immediately 'to prevent more lives being lost'.
