You've never been to Bulgaria, apparently. After the prime school (in principle it ends after 8th grade but I chose to go to a specialized high school after 7th grade) they said it would get better. Right. Only the injuries got "better". During my time in high school I spent more time in the trauma room of the hospital than attending classes.
And guess what - once again teachers and principal defended the bullies, not the victims. I started cursing the teachers and the principal (telling them to go mate with themselves), ofc they threatened me but I told them their punishments coulnd't be worse than what the bullies did to me pretty much every day.
IDK if it's still like this in schools but when I was a kid (that means 1991-2005) it was a nightmare, if you were even slightly more different than the rest.