-
.
- Ελληνικά
The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, Ms Athina Michailidou, participated today in a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture which discussed the issue of violence and delinquency in schools: "We had a very constructive discussion today on the issues of violence and delinquency, extreme incidents that occasionally see the light of day or that take place in schools. Let us say that our primary concern is prevention and early intervention in the issues of violence and delinquency. Our concern is a safe school for all. We cannot tolerate violence and delinquency and especially extreme incidents on school premises. The picture presented today through evidence and/or reports to Members must not be generalised under any circumstances. Our aim is all about protecting the school, not undermining it. The school alone cannot deal with violence! Violence starts before school and ends after, unfortunately!
It is, you understand, unthinkable for us to struggle to improve learning outcomes, to struggle to improve the school climate and at the same time tolerate incidents of violence that victimize our children or even embarrass teachers. We have already taken many, many steps to ensure this security, that is, to reduce incidents of violence and delinquency. I recall that there are laws, there are protocols, which we have updated, and they have recently been institutionalised by the Council of Ministers, and we are adopting a series of pedagogical measures, which the research suggests, in order to improve the role of the school. However, we must stress that violence does not begin and end at school. Unfortunately, it begins much earlier, in the family, in the early years of a child's life, and so when children reach the age of 16 and 17 it is very difficult to deal with the phenomenon only at school, and unfortunately we continue to see such phenomena after school. We see what happens on the playing fields and in society at large.
So it has become clear to everyone that the issue is not just about the school. But the school takes its responsibility. It has already taken a number of measures and we are continuing this action. Soon, we will have the child's electronic file, which will "follow" the child from the beginning of his or her schooling, from the age of 4, at school until the end of schooling, so that all services, Social Welfare Services, Mental Health Services, and even others who must have a say and a role, can have direct information about each child.
We will also soon have a proposal for an alternative attendance programme for children, which will be for very extreme cases and will allow the child to leave school, attend school and be supported by specialists and then come back.
I should note that the role of parents is very important. In some cases, unfortunately, there is no family behind the child. So you all understand how many services need to be there from the beginning to support these children.
As a government we have set the goal of safe schools and we are working systematically in this direction. We have given in writing to the Education Committee-and we will come back with more details-our recommendations for improving legislation and for taking specific actions that need to be taken in order for the recent legislation that has passed through the House to be effective. We are more than willing. We are ready to work with all agencies so that the school can play its role. We are not the police; we are not psychiatrists and psychologists. We are a school. We need to let ourselves do our job properly. But in full cooperation with everyone.
It is necessary to operate programs and actions that, while provided for in the legislation, do not work. In this direction, we have already informed other Ministries and Services, as well as Parliament," the Education Minister concluded.
Afterwards, Ms. Michaelidou answered questions from journalists.
Asked about the electronic file and who will handle it and who will give guidelines for treatments, Ms. Michaelidou said: "From the beginning the child's details will be recorded and there and where there is an issue. For example, if the child is already being followed by a psychiatrist, it will be recorded. The Educational Psychology Service will immediately see this data. So it won't take time for it to go through all these committees and then for the first grade to conclude that the child has an issue. From an early age, from 4 years old, we will know, so that all those services that he needs, not only the services of our Ministry, but also from other Ministries, will be by his side."
Asked what kind of violence problems these are, because we hear that various incidents are occurring in schools, the Minister said: "Let me also say here that we have to protect the public school, not to generalise. Several extreme incidents happen from time to time, dozens of others happen, which find their solutions and do not see the light of day. So it is unfair to our public school and to our teachers to say that our school is a place where we have offending behaviour all day long. We should mention that many times our MPs hear about it on the visits they go on a lot. We hear a lot more and we see it stated, documented. These incidents are increased after the coronavirus, but also because of the proper enlightenment that is done.
Now even if there is suspicion, and if a teacher suspects that there is sexual abuse of a child, he/she is required by law to report it directly to the police, without even reporting it to the school administration. You realize all the campaigning we've been doing over the last few years - not just the last year, which we've put a lot of emphasis on - has also empowered children to speak up, it's also empowered parents to know where to go to report. So we are talking about some incidents that usually see the light of day and there our concern is not only the perpetrators but also the victims first and foremost, because in these cases all our services are there for them, but also services outside the Ministry. The services of the Ministry of Education are not enough."
In a comment that these incidents also involve foreign students, who do not know Greek, and whether this group of children should be placed out of school, either temporarily until they learn Greek, or until they learn the habits and rules that exist in a school, Michailidou said: "Let me reiterate that what we did last year was indeed to give priority to children with immigrant biographies learning Greek before they enter the regular class schedule. We have had transition classes, we have increased the hours of Greek instruction, and the new thing we have introduced is Greek proficiency tests, but we would not want the conclusion to be drawn that it is only foreigners who are creating problems in our schools. There is no such evidence.
The majority of incidents come from Greek Cypriot pupils and our concern is: why do children have to reach 16 and 17 to see that there is a problem? If we look at their biography, they never had anyone behind them to support them. That's why we want, from very early on, to know the issues. For example, one parent is in prison or the mother is a drug addict, why weren't all the services there from the beginning? This is where we are aiming and I think there was this decisive conclusion today, that all services are there, we have already had many meetings on this issue, we are moving forward for results."
Regarding drugs in schools and when asked if students should also be tested in schools for drug use, Michailidou noted: "Let us say that teachers are not police officers, but teachers have a responsibility to report and for many years teachers were afraid to report for various reasons. Today we have also spoken with the Police - we have already had many meetings in the past - and they are also willing to support schools, because there must be open channels for complaints, but also so that the services can respond."
Asked if there is specific data regarding the increase in incidents after the coronavirus, the Minister replied, "Yes in our services it is recorded. Just to say that it is a global increase and we attribute it not only to the fact that we have had increases in incidents after incarceration, but also to the fact that information has helped to get people talking. And years ago we all know that there were incidents like this that were not being made public. Now they come out more easily both because of the internet and because of technology more broadly, but mainly because people know the protocols. Let's just say that within the schools the protocols are in place and working in front of the three or four incidents that we've heard here today, there are another 23 or 24 that have been resolved through protocols. Beyond that, our concern is the children first and foremost and the teachers of course. We promote a person-centred education, which cannot ignore these kinds of incidents, we have to solve them."
Asked if there are specific age groups based on the data in which these behaviours are identified, Michailidou said: "These are incidents that are seen in high schools and high schools and technical schools in particular, but we see that we have to monitor these from the pre-primary level. Because a phenomenon does not suddenly appear in secondary schools and high schools. There has certainly been some covert action before, which we had not noticed, so we are also interested in prevention. I recall that starting this year we have introduced violence and delinquency issues in kindergartens and we are seeing very encouraging results. That is, how to respect each other, how to discuss, what it means to resolve our conflicts peacefully. If we do this early on and also support the family, because the school alone cannot do much, we are optimistic about the future. So prevention for us and better communication between services is the key to doing better."
In commenting that the Minister chose not to publicise these incidents, Michailidou said: "It is personal data."
In response to a reference to the fact that public disclosure can help society react and assist the work of the Ministry, the Minister noted that "several incidents are coming to light, which are reported by parents. This is not the right picture of the public school. It goes without saying that if we have even one incident, we have to take action and get a result and, above all, care for the children, because these remain as traumas afterwards for the children."
Asked if there is a specific timetable for the implementation of the electronic file and what data it will include, Ms. Michaelidou noted that within the next few months the electronic file will be ready and will include mainly personal data and therefore the various services will have limited access and of course the legislation on the protection of personal data will be respected.
Asked if it will be implemented from the new school year, the Minister said: "Unfortunately not, because it is a programme that proceeds on the basis of timetables. However, before the new school year we will have our proposal for the alternative attendance programme."
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
