Research by Teneo School has found that online searches for “school bullying” in South Africa have surged by 1 343% over the past month, highlighting a growing public crisis around learner safety, school culture, and mental wellbeing. The data, sourced from Google search trends, indicates more than 23 000 searches in the last month alone, as parents and educators react to recent reports and viral videos showing violent incidents in schools. This digital signal reflects deepening anxiety among families about the psychological and physical risks children face in traditional classrooms. A national concern resurfacing Bullying has long been one of South Africa’s most entrenched education challenges. According to the HJW Attorneys, more than 3.2 million learners are bullied yearly in South Africa, whether physical, verbal, or online. But the sudden, month-on-month surge in search interest suggests that public attention has reached a tipping point. Education specialists point to systemic factors: overcrowded classrooms, limited counselling capacity, inconsistent disciplinary policies, and the rapid spread of violent incidents on social media. 21.7% of learners in a KwaZulu-Natal study reported absenteeism due to feeling unsafe, an impact that can persist for years. The digital dimension: when bullying doesn’t stop at the school gate The rise of social media has made bullying continuous, often following learners beyond the school grounds. South Africa reports the highest cyberbullying risk at 36% in one dataset of online risk exposure, driven by WhatsApp groups, online shaming, and exclusionary digital spaces that amplify schoolyard conflicts. This shift has prompted many parents to look for better schooling environments where monitoring, accountability, and pastoral care are structurally built in. Online schooling, once seen as a niche, has become a credible solution for families seeking both flexibility and psychological safety. How data-driven schooling changes the equation South Africa’s leading online school, Teneo School, says that digital environments, when properly designed, can actively prevent the conditions that allow bullying to thrive. The school’s proprietary Smart School System™️ continuously monitors learner participation, engagement, and peer interaction, allowing teachers to spot early warning signs such as sudden withdrawal, absenteeism, or disengagement from group work. Every learner’s digital footprint is visible to teachers and parents in real time through secure dashboards, helping identify behavioural changes before they escalate. Weekly alerts, feedback loops, and active communication between educators and parents create a level of visibility that traditional systems often struggle to match. In addition, Teneo Schools’s open-access policy, welcoming learners of all abilities, including those with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, anxiety, and sensory impairments, has made inclusion a built-in feature of its academic model rather than an add-on. Teachers are trained to recognise the emotional and behavioural patterns that often accompany bullying and victimisation, and to intervene early using both pastoral support and data-backed insight. From reaction to prevention Education experts argue that the real opportunity lies in shifting from reactive punishment to proactive prevention, and data is at the heart of that shift. Real-time engagement tracking and early-intervention alerts can identify learners at risk of both being bullied and exhibiting bullying behaviours, long before issues reach a crisis point. Lientjie Pelser, Head of Academic Phases at Teneo School, said, “The 1 300% rise in searches tells us that families are looking for solutions, not slogans. At Teneo School, we’ve seen how data can make care visible, giving teachers the insight to intervene early, while giving learners a sense of safety and belonging. Every child deserves to learn without fear, and technology, used responsibly, can help make that possible.”