The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) recognized, in a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality 5,668 (ADI 5,668), judged on July 1 hereof this year, "the obligation, on the parties of public and private schools, to curb discrimination based on gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, also curbing bullying and discrimination in general of a sexist nature (against cisgender and transgender girls) and homotransphobic (against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transvestites and transsexuals)."

The legal concept of bullying was introduced in the country by Law 13,185/15 and reinforced this year both by ADI 5,668, and by Law 14,811/24, which typified bullying as a crime in article 146-A of the Penal Code.

Bullying itself is not new, but the way it is socially seen today, it is.

The year 2024 brought not only a new law and a relevant judgment, but a flood of news of controversial cases involving educational institutions: racist, homophobic, fatphobic, and anti-Semitic actions, gender violence, segregation, and even incentives to suicide in the school environment.

The occurrences of discrimination are varied and increasingly serious, potentiated and challenging. The evolution of technologies and the explosion of social networks have changed the dynamics of cyberbullying. With the speed of the spread of news, the scope of the damage caused may be even higher, since the increase in the number of reports on the subject may expand and intensify issues that were previously restricted to educational institutions.

A large portion of the cases involve minors, who are still in development and do not have full capacity for the acts of civil life. They face this type of situation in a fundamental stage of their development and education, in what should be a safe space: the school.

All this makes the bullying situation even further delicate. Not by hazard, parents and guardians of children are often excited and have difficulty acting rationally.

The combination of all these factors results in a potential crisis with extremely complex and specific contours for educational institutions – and the pressure and public demands in relation to the responses they will give to this type of conduct only increases.

Practical Issues: Challenges, Aggravating Factors and What to Do

When we map the challenges of educational institutions to respond to crises, we find that there is a standard in the consequences faced by schools: media exposure, reputational damage, student dropout, contract terminations, and judicialization.

Among the factors that aggravate the situation are:

  • delay in dealing with and responding to the crisis;
  • failures in communication, both internally and externally;
  • lack of accountability and disciplinary measures or support for victims; and
  • lack of preventive actions and prior definition of macro strategies on actions to be taken in critical situations.

Understanding these points helps in the creation of effective and appropriate strategies to manage crisis situations in schools. There are several preventive measures focused on training the school community that can be implemented. Some examples:

  • Teachers and staff – internal training to help them identify potential red flags and prepare them to accomplish an appropriate complaint approach, with scripts that standardize actions and the language to be adopted;
  • Parents and legal guardians – introduction of the subject in meetings and conversation circles to open a channel of dialogue on controversial topics before the situation occurs. The information collected on these occasions can enable the educational institution to improve its crisis response plan; and
  • Students – elaboration and fixation of informative booklets that strengthen awareness measures, like the realization of games and educational scavenger hunts with a multidisciplinary approach.

In addition to this relevant effort to empower the community, there are other relevant actions that can be taken in advance. Among them is the creation of an anonymous reporting channel, tenure by an entity independent of the educational institution and periodically audited. Through this channel, victims could describe occurrences for proper analysis.

In view of the legal novelties hereof year, educational institutions must hold even further attentive to combating discrimination on their premises – and document their actions in that regard to, if necessary, attest their commitment with the matter and in mitigating abuse.

In addition to mitigating any media, reputational, and even financial repercussions, this preventive and more cautious conduct can also ensure higher control of the possible consequences and legal repercussions of a crisis.

If you are interested, our multidisciplinary team in the Crisis Management practice is ready to discuss and to deepen the topic. We also make available a  upgraded ebook that addresses the subject from the prospect of digital law.