A concert by children of a city school highlighted the problem of body shaming and bullying, a reality across campuses.
Even students in Classes III or IV are conscious about their appearances and deride each other for it, said teachers.
Students of Indus Valley World School on Thursday, through a story of animals, showed the impact of the problems on kids at school.
During the concert, an elephant was body shamed for being fat and porcupine for being ugly, a tortoise was bullied for being slow, giraffes were labelled as “thieves,” and monkeys were ridiculed for their skin colour.
The analogy was with animals, but the reality is that these are the problems that children face in schools, which ruin their confidence and even impact their health, said teachers across schools.
“We want to send a message that the way a person looks, walks or speaks is superficial and should not be judged by these attributes,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.
“The age of bullying or body shaming is gradually coming down and kids even in Classes III or IV are conscious of these,” said Prasad.
The concert titled Jongole Crisis (A crisis in the forest) was put up by 202 children — mostly from Classes III and IV and a few from senior classes.
The concert showed how a wily fox manipulated other animals to disrespect one another to disturb the peace in the forest.
It damaged years of companionship and harmony.
In the end, it was a parrot who drove sense into the animals and the deceitful fox was exposed.
“The message to children is to not give in to bullying or body shaming but stand up for who you are,” said Prasad.
Vice-principal Priyadarshinee Guha, under whose supervision the concert was organised, said the concert had a message for the adults — both parents and teachers.
“The target audience was also adults through the voices of children. Parents inculcate many of these mindsets into their children unconsciously, in the way they speak in front of their children without realising that it is getting embedded in their minds,” said Guha. She said that teachers, too, label a child, not for appearance but for their intelligence, which sometimes scars them for life.
Teachers said that not all instances of body shaming or bullying reach the authorities.
“Body shaming and bullying are prevalent. We have seen the confidence of children getting shattered because of it. Whether it is the obese or the underdeveloped kid, both ends of the spectrum are at the receiving end,” said Nupur Ghosh, vice-principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
Suman Sood, director, BD Memorial Junior School, said the responsibility rests with both the parents and teachers to sensitise kids from an early stage.