Teenager brings anti-bullying message to schools in India
By Geoff Wertime, Staff Writer
PLAINSBORO — Reports of two teenagers killing a third, who they believed to be a bully, in India reverberated in Abhinav Saikia’s mind the summer of 2009 when he was making his yearly summer visit to the country with his family.
”After coming back last year, this incident kept bothering me as three lives could have been saved if school children were taught about bullying and the simple ways to prevent it,” said the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional High School North 10th-grader and Plainsboro resident.
Not content with the bullying awareness status quo in India, Abhinav, 14, said that summer he started calling and e-mailing “as many schools as I could” and was ultimately able to arrange to give presentations at 11 institutions.
”After talking with my friends who are school students in India I got to know that the most common problem, besides the pressure to perform well in academics, is standing up to a bully,” he explained. “School bullying and incidents of cyber bullying are common in India as well but unlike here in the U.S., this topic is not talked about as it should be in schools.”
In the U.S., he contrasted, “as a middle school student we are taught to stand up to bullies and be an ‘upstander’ and not a ‘bystander.’”
So over the course of six weeks this summer, Abhinav visited schools in the region of Assam and the city of Delhi to teach other students, some of them disadvantaged, how to prevent bullying both in the real world and online. He also talked about youth mentoring and resisting peer pressure to abuse drugs and alcohol.
He said schools only allowed him to discuss the latter topic after much convincing, since while addiction is a problem in Indian schools, it is not seen as one and is rarely discussed.
”I was really surprised when I approached various schools to do presentations about drugs and alcohol use among teenagers,” he said, noting at first he was told no because “it was not a relevant topic for their schools.”
By the end of his trip, Abhinav said he had had over 800 students sign pledges to help create “bully-free zones” in their schools, a fact he said “really encouraged” him.
The workshops were not the only new twist to Abhinav’s latest summer in India, which he called “a life-changing experience.” He said he had the chance to visit an orphanage in Delhi that was home to some children whose parents were alive but unable to care for them due to addiction or poverty.
”I will never forget their excited faces when they saw the crayons, colored pencils, and markers I got them, and their joy when they realized that they (could) keep those supplies,” he said.
That visit, he continued, inspired him to sponsor a child’s education with the money he makes giving guitar lessons.
He also volunteered at Asha Bhawan, of “Habitat for Hope,” a place where his uncle learned to give up drugs and alcohol and become self-dependent. Abhinav said he was impressed by how his uncle, who now works at Asha Bhawan, became “a changed man.”
”What is unique about this place is that recovering drug addicts not only live free of cost but also learn to be drug-free and to be self-dependent and sustainable,” he said. “Here (at Asha Bhawan) I learned that it’s okay to make mistakes, learn from it and even if one hits rock bottom, one can bounce back in life with dignity.”
Abhinav’s parents, Anjan and Sanhita Saikia, said they were happy their son was able to have such a productive and educational summer.
”Abhinav’s experience this summer was enriching for him and reinforced his belief in making a difference. We are glad he took the initiative and we encourage him to continue with his endeavor to make a positive impact,” they said in an e-mail.
The young man said he not only plans to give more talks when he goes back to India next summer, but he also wants to spread his message around the world via New Jersey.
”I also plan to make presentations at various schools in New Jersey so that other students can carry the same message and spread awareness whenever they visit their own countries and make all schools bully free zones,” Abhinav said.
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