(RNS) — In the midst of tensions, from global conflicts to the upcoming election, many communities throughout the United States are on high alert for hate and discrimination. But one institution in American life allows harm against the most vulnerable in our society year after year, and it is all but accepted as the status quo: our nation’s schools, where youth from a wide range of marginalized groups face bias-based bullying.

As a Sikh American, I am no stranger to this problem, nor is my community. A recent national study driven by the Sikh Coalition, the nation’s largest Sikh civil rights organization, has confirmed what our experience tells us is true: A staggering 78% of school-age Sikhs report experiencing bullying behavior. Most likely to face severe and more violent, physical forms of bullying are male Sikh students who wear religious head coverings (including turbans). 

What’s more, these students aren’t getting the support they need. In the survey, 46% of students who say they have been bullied “never” or “almost never” reported the incident. This is not surprising given that 63% of them said teachers or staff “almost never” or “never” intervened, even when bullying happened right in front of them. Indeed, 11% of students said that they had been bullied by teachers or school staff, the very people who should be keeping them safe.

Sadly, these experiences aren’t confined to the Sikh community. Organizations such as the Islamic Networks Group offer resources to serve bullied Muslim students precisely because bullying is so common in their community as well.

But the issue doesn’t stop with religious minorities: Black students are bullied more often than members of any other racial group, and the severe bullying of LGBTQ+ youth remains a critical problem, with bullied LGBTQ+ kids more than four times as likely to commit suicide due to mistreatment at school. This risk was underscored by the recent heartbreaking assault and subsequent suicide of a nonbinary high school student, Nex Benedict, in Oklahoma.

With bigotry hurting too many of our children, what can we do to make schools safer and more inclusive for all?

People display Sikh anti-bullying brochures. (Photo courtesy of Sikh Coalition)

First, schools and teachers need more resources to combat bias-based bullying, facilitate student safety, collect bullying data and provide for student mental health. Officials at all levels of government have a role to play in this work. Congress should move forward the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Strengthening Educator Workforce Data Act. State and local education agencies should rewrite student codes of conduct to prohibit bias-based bullying explicitly and ensure that reporting structures are clear to students, that they are language-accessible for parents and that they work to hold staff accountable.

We can also help curb bullying by teaching students in less inclusive schools, where our study found more bullying, with appropriate educational discussions. In essence, the more effort a school makes to be inclusive of diverse student populations, the less “othered’” students may be by their peers. In the case of Sikhi, we measured inclusivity by how much students heard about uniform accommodations for articles of faith, and other such factors.

Some of this work sits with the policies and accessibility of individual schools, but state governments can also help: Legislators can advance inclusive curricula, while state departments or boards of education can maintain standards review processes that place value on the experiences of a wide variety of communities. Teachers can introduce diverse reading material and open classroom discussions.

Ultimately, bias-based bullying doesn’t only affect the students who experience it firsthand: Perpetrators of bullying behavior suffer their own negative effects, and environments plagued by harassment and violence benefit no child. When students from all backgrounds feel seen and safe, on the other hand, it means a more well-rounded education for all.

By turning our collective attention to the problem of bias-based bullying and advocating for every child as we would our own, we can make a brighter future for students facing bullying now and a better-educated, more tolerant citizenry for our diverse nation in the long term. 

(Harman Singh is executive director of the Sikh Coalition, the nation’s largest Sikh civil rights organization. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)