Parents don't want a violent student in Elementary School "Musa Burzan": The boy has to go to school somewhere

All institutions have been familiar for years with the problematic behavior of the student who was sent from the Podgorica elementary school "Oktoih" to the school "Milorad Musa Burzan", but legal solutions are not used that provide support for changing the behavior of both that child and his parents.

This is what the director of the Parents Association told "Vijesta" yesterday Kristina Mihailović.

According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", the Council of Parents of Elementary School "Milorad Musa Burzan" maintained its position last night during the session that a probematic boy has no place in that school. According to sources from that body, the council will send requests to the Ministry, and among other things, they will ask that the department be responsible for the safety of the other children in the school. As a way of protest, they have not ruled out a boycott of classes, if the Ministry does not respond to their demands.

Parents of Elementary School "Milorad Musa Burzan" also protested in front of that institution yesterday morning. They demanded that the Ministry of Education change the decision according to which the problematic student was sent to that school, and they threatened that if this did not happen, they would refuse to send their children to classes.

The school also appealed to the department Miomir Vojinović, justifying it by the fact that "they don't want to escalate the problems of peer violence".

"We appealed to the Ministry of Education to revise its decision. We are a school with 1.701 students in 64 classes, whose psychological-pedagogical service is constantly working, and we do not want the problems of peer violence to escalate. "Our school has enough of its own problems, and at this moment we have a hot potato," the school's director told "Vijesta". Milica Vuković.

Transfer to another school is the most difficult educational measure from the Basic Education Act.

The law provides that a student who has been given an educational measure of transfer to another school can be transferred, but with the consent of the parents and the school to which he is transferred.

"Vijesti" has previously written about the perennial problems of children, parents, teachers and the management of Elementary School "Oktoih" with the boy.

The parents of the other students begged for help for years, but it was not an alarm to the authorities

And Mihailović says that the Association "does not know the number of parents who have called us over the past few years to complain and ask for the protection of their child".

“And that wasn't alarm enough! From the moment the problem started, at least three years ago, everyone has been involved in some way, but there are no results. And everyone was informed. I know that punishment is on everyone's mind, and that there should definitely be responsibility, but there must also be some form of support in changing behavior, both for the child and for the parents. There are legal solutions that make this possible and there are measures of work and supervision, but few people want to make such a decision", said Mihailović.

According to her, the last case is an example that "as a society, we are not able to solve problems in the child's behavior, and how the path flows from noticing the first problems to the culmination".

"Is it right for us to claim and believe that we don't have mechanisms to help a child who behaves problematically in order to change that behavior, but also to protect other children? Let me remind you that this is a child who was nine years old then, or 12 or 13 years old now. It is not true that we have no mechanisms and nothing to do. This is just one of a series of cases, which follows the same dynamic, and the previous ones mostly ended with the criminal actions of a child with problematic behavior when he grows up, that is, becomes a young person. Should we wait for that to happen", Mihailović asked.

She clarified that everyone has been informed since the problem started, at least three years ago, but that there are no results.

"We have repeatedly offered our help and involvement, not by brainstorming, but by practical work with both the child and the parents, but this has not happened so far," Mihailović said.

The Center for Social Work claims to work with both the boy and his parents

The Podgorica Center for Social Work responded to "Vijesta" that they are continuously undertaking "measures and actions in the domain of social and child protection related to the child, including cooperation with educational institutions."

"We constantly work with the family, they are involved in services in the community, support within the health system, and we have continuous cooperation with the parents," claim the Center from Podgorica.

They also state that they are aware of the fact that the Commission of the Ministry of Education only recently made a decision to transfer the boy to another school, even though his parents requested it at the end of the last school year.

"According to our knowledge, the Commission's decision was made a few days ago, although the parents' request was sent at the end of the previous school year, and in the meantime there was an inappropriate exchange of information about the child, which now complicates the overall situation," the Center explains, adding that they will continue to cooperate with the education system in this case.

The school protested, the Commission cut it

The Ministry of Education explains that the schools approached by the "Oktoih" elementary school did not agree to accept the boy, which is why the commission of that department turned to the director of the "Milorad Musa Burzan" elementary school, with a request to give an opinion in order to implement the imposed educational measure, as well as to the parents named student.

"The director of the school 'Milorad Musa Burzan' submitted the requested opinion, in which, among other things, she states that the transfer of students to that school is not an adequate solution, and that a smaller environment, a school with fewer students, would be better for the student, so that he paid extra attention and regularly monitored behavior", they said.

After the explanation of director Vuković, the committee considered the case files and all the documentation, and by looking at the database maintained by the school within the Montenegrin Education Information System (MEIS), it determined that there are conditions for enrolling students in the Elementary School "Milorad Musa Burzan". .

"Regarding the question of why the child was not sent to the 'Ljubović' institution, the Commission did not have the authority to transfer the child to another institution, except for school, in accordance with the law. On the whole, the legal procedure was followed, respecting the rights and best interests of the child, bearing in mind that the right to education under equal conditions, as well as basic education, is mandatory and guaranteed by the Constitution", concluded the Ministry.

The decision on referral to the Center "Ljubović" is made by the court or the competent Center for Social Work, and the users of "Ljubović", if they are of school age, regularly attend classes, sometimes with the presence of employees of child and social welfare institutions.