Social networking sites are now the "weapons of bullying", the House of Commons heard as it opened its doors to the Youth Parliament.

Student Scott Lamond said that while victims of bullying once thought of their home as a safe haven from bullies, they could now be threatened and intimidated online.

He told a meeting of the Youth Parliament in the Commons: "Facebook, Twitter and the notorious ask.fm - these are all things we have heard of in the news and these are now weapons of bullying.

"It used to be that young people could go home to a safe haven, now you can be accessed by bullies wherever you are in the world."

Other students visiting Westminster said schools were not doing enough to tackle the problem, while the national curriculum was failing to support young people.

Faraz Hanif, from east London, said: "Bullying is a problem because the education system is currently lacking. I think the problem is that society has created the image of the perfect man and the perfect woman and if you do not fit in that image then you are looked down upon by society.

"Teachers need to start teaching students how to grow their self-esteem because that is the problem at the moment."

Perdita Blinkhorn, who represents young people in Medway, Kent, said schools needed to do more than say they had a zero-tolerance approach to bullying.

She said: "Recent statistics show that schools class bullying because of race 98% of the time, 95% of the time they class discrimination on the basis of disability but only just 50% of time schools class bullying on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

"That to me speaks volumes - it says to me that zero-tolerance policies in schools is not the issue because so many schools have those. They say they are against bullying, of course they do. What it says to me is that schools have different values that they apply to bullying and it is how they perceive it."

More than 300 children aged between 11 and 18 will vote later on whether to make opposition to bullying their campaign for the year.

The motion before the Youth Parliament states: "We believe that schools need to have professional support and peer advice for both the victim and the bully, better training for staff about bullying, and improved information and advice for students about bullying."