Gurwinder Singh, 18, faced bullying all through his school years in Queens, New York.

In high school, a girl spilled soda all over his turban in front of his entire biology class and their teacher, who did not respond adequately. He explained how embarrassed he was to have this happen in front of his classmates and how vulnerable he felt since his teacher did not stand up for him.

 The teacher's behavior was not surprising. The New York Department of Education (NYDOE) is providing teachers insufficient resources and training to protect students from bullying and bias-based harassment, according to an overwhelming majority of city teachers surveyed in a report released by the Sikh Coalition, the Asian American Legal Defense Fund, and the New York Civil Liberties Union.

 "Bullying is not just affecting the Sikhs," said Amardeep Singh, director of programs, Sikh Coalition. "Students from different backgrounds face it and suffer if without getting help even from the teachers. The Sikh community is taking a leadership role to fight this menace in schools for all. Too many students suffer from bullying in their schools because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. This report tells us why: few teachers know that they have specific obligations under existing rules to protect students from bullying. The New York Department of Education must invest resources to end this dynamic. Otherwise, the city's good intentions to combat bullying are merely good intentions lacking substance."

 Gurwinder eventually went to the dean's office and the girl who spilled the soda was suspended; she retaliated by punching him when he was not looking. Although he did not fight back, he was also suspended for a day because he was involved in a fight. This incident was recorded in his school records.

 Another time, Gurwinder was riding home in the school bus when someone pulled the turban off his head from behind. He was not able to retie his turban and had to walk home, turban in hand. Often, he has been called "egg-head" and "ter­rorist."

 The experience of Sehajbir Singh, 12, who is in the sixth grade, is not different. He faces taunts in class about his patka (the small turban worn by Sikh boys), call­ing him names, like "ball head," and more. No help from teachers is available.

 Abinash Kaur, an eighth grader in a Queens, New York, school who wears a tur­ban, also faces slurs like "terrorist" very often; teachers, he says, fail to discipline the mischief makers.

 "Any staff training on harassment that my school did last year was conducted in a lackadaisical, perfunctory manner," said Pat Compton, a former teacher at Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, who retired at the end of the 2009-2010 school year. "While some information on harassment and bullying is presented as a sin­gle item at the staff conference at the start of the school year, it is always done very briefly, as a single point on the agenda."

 The report, Bullying in New York City Schools: Educators Speak Out, summa­rizes the results of a survey conducted during the 2009-2010 school year of 198 teachers and school staff at 117 public schools. It assesses the Department of Education's progress in enforcing Chancellor's Regulation A-832, issued in September 2008, to address student-to-student bullying and bias-based harass­ment. It also assesses the department's Respect for All diversity training initiative.

 The report discovered that only 14 percent of teachers and staff surveyed said the Chancellor's Regulation and the Respect for All program are effective or "very effective" in addressing bullying and bigotry in their schools. Although the DOE's two-day Respect for All training is available to all teachers, only about 30 percent said their school even offered training. Only about 31 percent of the respondents said students in their schools received diversity or Respect for All training.

 In 2004, the New York City Council passed the Dignity in All Schools Act, pro­hibiting harassment and discrimination in the schools. It requires regular anti-harassment training for staff and teachers, and requires regular reporting and tracking of incidents of bullying and harassment. The law was not enforced. Four years later, following a pair of high-profile attacks against Sikh students in city schools, the DOE issued the Chancellor's Regulation A-832.

 An earlier survey of 1,000 students found that many students did not know how to report bullying incidents, schools were failing to implement harassment-pre­vention measures, and educators were failing to investigate bullying reports. In response, the education department and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in October 2009 announced important expansions to anti-bullying measures in city schools. The DOE made mandatory two-day Respect for All teacher trainings for two staff members in every public school. The survey results cast doubt on the suc­cess of these measures.

 "The survey found that it is not enough to train two teachers. All teachers should be given training," Amardeep Singh said.

 The report asked to expand Chancellor's Regulation A-832 so it is in compliance with the recently enacted New York State Dignity for All Students Act by pro­hibiting staff-to-student bullying and expanding public reporting requirements.