Years ago, Sakthi Mekana said she was bullied by her peers and that complaints made to the secondary school didn’t help.
The 22-year-old recounted this in a video posted to TikTok, where it has since been watched more than 200,000 times by viewers that include past students who shared similar experiences in the comments.
“Back in school when I was bullied for 4 years, I tried multiple times to complain to the school staff but it was constantly ignored/taken as a joke. I pretty much was hurt after being physically abused, writing a formal report to the discipline mistress and still being taken as a joke,” she told Coconuts this morning, a day after putting up the video.
The school, which was revealed to be Commonwealth Secondary, has yet to respond to Coconuts’ queries sent this morning.
@dfistsCommonwealth Secondary School, hope this does not happen again👍🏽##realtalkwdfists ##tiktoksg ##Indian ##tamil ##callitoutsg ##stopbullying ##antibullying
Mekana, who now works as a business development head, described being kicked, pinned against the wall, hurled insults, and ganged up upon while other students watched. From 2012 to 2015, she recalled being abused by up to eight people she did not name, other than that they were mostly Indians and included some of the “meanest” seniors in school.
Multiple reports were made to the school but nothing really helped, she said, except that there were attempts to push the blame on her.
“The first time my parents reported about my whole bullying situation to the school was when I was in Sec 2 to my form teacher and she literally said if [the] majority of them are bullying your daughter that means something is wrong with your daughter,” Mekana said on TikTok.
Even the discipline master brushed off her complaint, Mekana said, telling her not to exaggerate the matter or turn it into a “Tamil drama.” Neither staff member are working for the school today, she said.
Some of the viewers who reacted to Mekana’s video also shared about being bullied in secondary school. Over a thousand comments were posted to the video.
“Funny thing is my secondary school did the exact same. They told me if my whole cohort doesn’t like me then it meant I should change,” Kayshyni wrote without naming the school.
“[I’]m also from [C]ommonwealth [S]econdary [S]chool [and] [I] totally agree with you. [I] got bullied as well & that caused me to be so afraid to even go to school,” Janlsy wrote.
Mekana has been raising awareness about bullying on her social media channels for the past eight years by actively sharing personal stories from other bully victims.
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