17 percent of students experienced at least one act of violence at school

Since the beginning of the school year, 17 percent of students have experienced at least one act of violence at school.

This was shown by the results of research on the prevalence and forms of violence in schools in Montenegro, which was presented today by Zoran Lalović, an independent consultant at the Institute for Education.

He clarified that according to the second criterion, when children were offered lists of possible forms of violence, about 25,5 percent of students answered affirmatively that they had experienced one of the specific acts of violence. Lalović pointed out that the questionnaire was filled out online and that 12.021 students from all Montenegrin municipalities gave answers.

According to the results of the research, 16 percent of respondents believe that violence is not present in Montenegrin schools, 76 percent that it is present to a small extent or that it is not worrisome, while eight percent of children feel uncomfortable, and almost two percent are afraid of going to school.

Lalović also said that most children believe that their parents expect them to behave decently and treat others with respect at school. According to children, violence most often happens in the school yard or in the corridors during recess. As places of medium risk, children marked school toilets, classrooms during recess and the way home, while low risk places are the gymnasium and classrooms during classes.

Lalović said that research showed that about a third of students react adequately when they are exposed to violence - they turn to someone who is obliged to protect them, but first a parent, then a teacher, then the director and pedagogue. He pointed out that the student, in the position of a victim, rarely addresses adults, and when he decides to do so, he first of all addresses the parent, which indicates that violence is invisible to the school.

The research results also show that violence is less present in rural schools, compared to city schools, in schools that work in one shift, in smaller schools with up to 500 students, but also in institutions with better conditions...

Answering about the reaction to violence in schools, about 43 percent of respondents said that teachers react immediately, 34 percent, according to their perception, react delayed and the reaction is directed towards the one who commits violence, while in the opinion of 20 percent of students, they ignore the violence.

"The most important conclusion regarding the determination of the prevalence of violence in our schools is not the percentage of violence, but the fact that has been established in this and numerous other studies, that the typical situation related to school violence is not one in which there is a victim who is bullied by a large number of children, but one in which there is a bully who mistreats a larger number of victims. In our case, it is 2,7 percent of students who are bullies, four percent of students who are both victims and bullies, 13 percent of students who are only victims," ​​said Lalović.

He concluded that the role of the bully and the role of the victim are stable, explaining that according to the research, 65 percent of students who were victims of violence this year were also victims in previous years, while 72 percent of students who were bullies were like that in previous years as well.