Educators in the countries of the region increasingly face physical and verbal attacks from students and parents, which was practically unimaginable in the former SFRY.
Due to the ever-present violence, and the research in Montenegro showed that every fourth teacher was a victim, an amendment to the Criminal Code was also announced in Serbia, but the question is how much this measure, without systemic action, would affect the solution to the problem.
A high school student physically assaulted a physics teacher in the classroom, a parent launched a campaign against the teacher on social media because they concluded the units for his child, the school principal punished the math teacher with a lower salary for one month because she took photos of evidence that the student was sending assignments to a private tutor... some of the last reported cases of attacks, insults and pressure on teachers in Montenegro.
However, sporadic media reports do not mean that there is no violence.
President of the Education Union Radomir Božović says that educators, unfortunately, often suffer violence, but that not all of them decide to prosecute the bullies with private lawsuits.
CONCLUSION OF GRADES A PARTICULARLY STRESSFUL PERIOD
According to him, the state is slow in reacting to such phenomena. As he said, the union has repeatedly requested a meeting with the representatives of the Ministry of Justice, who until now had no understanding of this problem.
"Last year, the education union conducted a survey on a sample of about 1.300 colleagues, which showed that every fourth teacher experienced a certain type of violence, verbal or physical, by students, parents or the school administration. That number may be higher, given that we later received information that colleagues did not want to report their problems even during the anonymous survey. Colleagues reported different situations: students disrupt classes, and when teachers direct them to the administration or the psychological-pedagogical service, they physically attack them. Such is one group of cases, because some students want at all costs to be stars in the classroom," explains Božović.
The second group of cases, he emphasizes, is related to evaluation - this is the most common reason for the reaction of students, parents, and sometimes school administrations.
"Parents are then often actors, because they try by all means to get the best grades and success for their children. Pressures through complaints about the assessment, requests for re-examination, and if all that fails, then some parents are ready to physically deal with the teacher, to insult them at school... There are more and more of these situations, and the period when they are locked in is especially stressful. grades at the end of the school year. "It happens that even the school administrations do not manage in the best way, so the impression is created that the teacher will not be protected, and then the parents are ready to settle accounts with us in all ways, including social networks," said Božović.
THE UNION SUGGESTS PREVENTION, BUT ALSO THAT PARENTS BE RESPONSIBLE
According to him, there were a lot of incident situations, but teachers usually don't want to later enter into private lawsuits and sue parents who physically assaulted them, or insulted them, so it often ends in an incident, even though it leaves consequences for their health.
"We have approached the Ministry of Justice several times, asking for a meeting, during which we would present our proposals for the protection of teachers." Let's see if the teacher can get some kind of official status. Or that attacks on teachers are automatically processed through the legal system, that the case does not depend on whether colleagues will want to process them through private lawsuits. In Serbia, the Criminal Code is being changed, and attacks on teachers will be treated the same as attacks on lawyers, and it implies that they will be processed automatically, more punishment for the perpetrators... In the countries of the region, something major needs to happen in order for them to react," says Božović. .
He also says that mild educational measures in schools further contribute to an unsafe atmosphere for teachers.
"Our proposals for the Ministry of Justice were that the parents of students who physically assaulted teachers should be held responsible and, therefore, punished by law. Whether it will be in the form of a monetary sanction or some other punishment, we wanted to open a dialogue with the Ministry of Justice and come up with the best model. We also have proposals on tightening the sanctions of the regulations related to juvenile delinquency, so that it would not happen that miscreants get away with only the educational measure of the teachers' council", said the president of the union.
He points out that not everything is about measures and that prevention should be much better.
"But our psychological and pedagogical services often do not have time to deal with prevention, even when it comes to students... On the other hand, when it comes to parents, we still have to work on solutions. The job of a teacher has become more stressful and unbearable, thanks to the synergy of students, parents, and sometimes even the school administration. The union will not give up, we will continue to propose ways to solve all these issues to the Ministry of Justice", said Božović.
CHANGES IN THE LAW - POPULISM OR REDUCTION OF VIOLENCE
Whether the announced amendment to the Criminal Code will contribute to the reduction of violence against teachers in Serbia, or whether it is a populist promise made on the eve of the last elections, with the aim of reducing the dissatisfaction of educators after two cases of beatings of their colleagues, is a question on which there is no agreement among union representatives. .
The profession, on the other hand, indicates that toughening the penalties for attacks on education employees will not improve the position of educators.
Physical assault on teachers in the workplace is more the exception than the rule, he notes Alexander Markov, the president of the Forum of Belgrade High Schools, indicating that they have many more problems with verbal attacks, insults from parents, students, and often directors, and what dominates in schools is peer violence.
He believes that the announced changes to the regulations will not reduce violence.
If the amendments to the Criminal Code are adopted, all employees in education, therefore, not only teachers, will enjoy greater criminal-legal protection, such as that enjoyed by lawyers.
According to the proposal reached between representatives of the Government and representative trade unions of education, for an attack on an employee in an educational institution, in connection with the work he performs, a penalty of three months to three years is threatened.
A prison sentence of six months to five years will be risked by those who inflict minor bodily injury on an educational worker or threaten them with the use of a weapon, and a prison sentence of one to eight years may be imposed on anyone who inflicts serious bodily injury on an employee of an educational institution or a member of their family. .
"This would mean that even an attack on employees, without causing bodily harm, would be criminally sanctioned, since the person who inflicts bodily harm on them can also be held accountable according to the existing legal solutions. In that case, both students and parents of students who attack educators would be subject to criminal responsibility, but it should be emphasized that only teachers in secondary schools would have 'protection' from students because children under the age of 14 are still criminally irresponsible," she explained. recently for "Danas" Vanja Bajović, professor at the Department of Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade.
She believes that the introduction of this criminal offense does not improve the position of educators in any way, bearing in mind that the attack itself, without inflicting physical injuries, is difficult to practically prove, which is supported by the fact that for this form of criminal offense, an attack on lawyers no one was ever held criminally accountable.
Bajović when he says that "it is devastating that as a society we have come to the point where it is necessary to protect educators by criminal law and by introducing a special criminal offense to protect professors from attacks by students and their parents".
"Because if we go in such a direction, the next step we could expect is the physical security of professors while they are giving lessons to underage students," Bajović believes.
Dusan Kokot, president of the Independent Union of Educational Workers of Serbia, believes that the announcement of the adoption of amendments to the Criminal Code is a good step, but not enough.
"After the adoption, if and when that happens, it is equally important how well the law will be implemented. Experience says that there will be problems in that part as well. The second, and for us, key question is whether this is the only measure in the systemic fight against violence in educational institutions. If it is the only one, then it is almost irrelevant. The aforementioned law can somewhat protect against adults and the pressures that colleagues often suffer from parents, but it does not protect against violence, which lately is most often committed by students. Even the last protests were due to this kind of violence", Kokot points out.
He reminds that more than a year ago, the Independent Union of Educators of Serbia proposed three measures that would provide protection to some extent, the fulfillment of which does not require additional money, but only political will.
In addition to the proposal to amend the Criminal Code, the Union also demanded the introduction of the possibility of suspending students and the abolition of anonymous reports to educational inspections.
"Suspension as a term entered the laws in the field of education last year, but in our opinion not in a completely valid way. Our proposal is the possibility of quick suspension, which in certain situations can be pronounced by the teacher during the lesson itself or by the teacher on duty during the break for the students. It is necessary to return to the teacher the tools to control what is happening in the lesson itself. The only thing where there is no progress is the abolition of anonymous reports. Moreover, the online platform 'Čuvam te' was launched, which promotes anonymity in the first question. We really do not see any reason to abolish anonymity, but also to define a punishment for the abuse of rights. Of course, all these are reactive measures and they can't do much, but you have to survive until really radical changes," comments Kokot.
Let us remind you that the protection of employees in education is defined as a separate article in the Rulebook on the protocol of actions in the institution in response to violence, abuse and neglect.
It foresees the school's obligation to always act when there is suspicion or knowledge that an employee suffers violence from students, parents or a third party in the institution or during the organization of the institution's activities.
"When a student is a perpetrator of violence against an employee, the director is obliged to immediately inform the parent and the center for social work; to initiate an educational-disciplinary procedure and to impose an educational-disciplinary measure, in accordance with the law, for students under 14 years of age, and for students over 14 years of age, except for the above-mentioned activities, and to notify the competent public prosecutor's office and the police", the Rulebook provides.
In the event that a parent or a third party is a perpetrator of violence against an employee or an employee against an employee, the director is obliged to report such knowledge to the police and the competent public prosecutor's office, and when the parent is the perpetrator of violence to inform the competent center for social work, within the legally prescribed period.
If the institution has knowledge that a parent or a third party belittles, insults, threatens or calls for violence against an employee on social networks, and in connection with the professional role of the employee, the institution is obliged to inform the competent public prosecutor's office.
TEACHER BEATEN WITH A ROD, ANOTHER WOUNDED IN THE CLASSROOM
The end of the school year represents a real nightmare for many students, but also teachers and professors in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Trying to make up for everything they didn't do during the school year, many students, especially those in the final grades of high schools, attack teachers and professors when concluding grades. It happens that verbal attacks turn into physical attacks. This is especially pronounced among older minors, who are also prone to delinquent behavior outside of school.
In order to illustrate what teachers and professors face, the president of the Union of Secondary and Higher Education, Education, Science and Culture of BiH Edina Čomić reminded how a student at Bosanska Krupa General High School beat the history professor with a metal bat three years ago Named Cucka.
She also recalled last year's case when a 14-year-old student at the Lukavac Grad elementary school shot an English teacher in the neck. Nedim Osmanović.
"Very often there are serious verbal attacks and even threats against teachers and professors that nobody, not even other teachers and professors, pay attention to. Everything is tried to be interpreted as if it is no big deal, but it is. "Unfortunately, such verbal and physical attacks are talked about for a day or two and then everything is forgotten," said Čomić.
Special attention was paid to the problem of violence against teachers and professors, as well as peer violence in schools, after last year's case in Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school in Belgrade, when a student killed nine students and a school guard with a gun, and wounded several more students and teachers.
Fortunately, such extreme cases, as well as examples of physical violence by students against professors and teachers in schools, have not occurred in the past year in the territory of the Republika Srpska, we were told in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS. However, the crime that took place in Belgrade was an alarm for the MUP of the RS to become more involved in preventing possible violence in schools.
"Police officers visited all schools in the RS (582 primary and 87 secondary schools). Elaborations with accompanying security assessments were prepared for all school buildings and student accommodation facilities. The current state of preventive and technical protection (fences, video surveillance, alarms, automatic locks, intercoms, etc.), physical and technical security, as well as security procedures in educational institutions, as well as the possibility of installing anti-burglary doors, baggage scanners and hand-held metal detectors, was reviewed. , are just some of the activities carried out by the MUP of the RS in the past period.
In the FBiH MUP, within the statistical data, there are no isolated cases of student violence against teachers and professors. What the FMUP statistics show is that juvenile delinquency is on a slight decline. Thus, in the first three months of this year, 63 juveniles were reported for committing crimes, of which 17 are among the younger ones, and 46 among the older juveniles. In the same period last year, 65 minors were reported. In addition, the share of minors in relation to the total number of offenders in the first quarter of this year is 2,09 percent, which is 0,32 percent less than in the same period last year.
Edina Čomić believes that results in reducing attacks on teachers and professors could be achieved with a stricter penal policy.
"I believe that attacks on teachers and professors should be treated as attacks on officials. In addition, it is necessary to return to the law that parents are again criminally responsible for acts committed by their minor children. We will soon launch an initiative to amend the FBiH Criminal Code, which would include these, but also other similar provisions aimed at the protection of teachers and professors," Čomić pointed out.
Very often there are serious verbal attacks and even threats against teachers and professors, which no one, not even other teachers and professors, pay attention to. Everything is tried to be interpreted as if it is no big deal, but it is. Unfortunately, such verbal and even the mentioned physical attacks are talked about for a day or two and then everything is forgotten
It is a particularly stressful period when grades are concluded at the end of the school year. It happens that even school administrations do not manage in the best way, so the impression is created that the teacher will not be protected, and then the parents are ready to settle accounts with us in all ways, including social networks, says the president of the Education Union Radomir Božović
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