Relentless digit tapping, incessant ring-tone recitals and persistent text warfare have become the bain of teachers’ classrooms in recent years. Yet it seems the mobile is to be the latest weapon in the war against bullying. So take up your phone and tell the bullies to ‘text off’.
Text Someone encourages young people to report incidents of bullying, theft, crime or any antisocial behaviour directly to schools. The new initiative allows schools to offer pupils the chance to text, email or call 24 hours a day 7 days a week, to report any problems they may be encountering.
The new technology hopes to eliminate the embarrassment attached to bullying by using technology that children are familiar with and feel confident using. The system also hopes to address the increasing trend of threatening text messages. Research by children’s charity NCH suggested 16% of 11 to 19 year-olds had been subject to such abuse. ‘Text Someone’ allows these unwanted messages to be forwarded onto the school along with details of when the message was received.
With government backing the developers of ‘Text Someone’, Truancy Call Ltd have already successfully launched ‘Truancycall’ . As part of the government’s £11.25m ‘Electronic Registration Project’ in secondary schools, ‘Trunacycall’ allows schools to automatically contacts parents when their children are absent by phone, text message and email.