Classes were suspended in around 700 schools across Serbia last week, and classes were held in a shortened form in other schools. The reason for this was the protest of educators due to violence in schools. Not only because of the incident that happened recently at the "Gymnasium" in Belgrade, where the professor was injured while trying to separate the students, but because of everything that happened in the last year.
Educationists gathered on the streets of Belgrade with the request to amend the Criminal Code in order to protect all employees in education. The protest was followed by a meeting with representatives of the Government of Serbia and it was agreed to amend the Criminal Code as soon as possible.
What does the promised change in the law bring?
Mirjana Gašić, spokesperson of the Union of Education Workers' Union of Serbia and professor of Serbian language and literature, told "Vreme" that this change in legal regulations would equate a school employee with the position currently held by lawyers, which is listed in the current Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia and entails measures from fines to prison sentences of up to eight years for violators of legal provisions.
"Thus, property, family and employees in education are protected from various forms of harassment or violent behavior of individuals", says Gašić.
He adds that such a solution, when adopted, will be a good and constructive step towards returning the education system to where it belongs, but that does not mean that it should stop there.
"It is just the beginning that restores the faith that the state takes care of the key areas of its foundation and its future," emphasizes Gašić.
More and more violence
The recent incident at the "Gymnasium" is not the only case of violence occurring in schools, which is becoming more frequent.
Mirjana Gašić says that, in general, the violence from television screens, political clashes and from "new cultural patterns" has been transferred to school, but also that students take the model of behavior from their families and transfer it to their work environment.
He explains that in addition to a large number of students and parents who are fully committed to the education and training system, there are those who are very loud and arrogant, but few in number.
"That's how we get to the 'Gymnasium' and the clash between the students. This event is a vivid representation of the position of an educator in society. A teacher dies - in an attempt to calm a violent situation, following exactly the protocols that were sent to him a few months earlier, to act according to them. A paradox - but very picturesque and precisely accurate", points out Gašić.
What next?
Gašić says that only by returning complete autonomy to the teacher, the state can stop the deterioration of education.
He explains that a little more than eight months ago, representatives of the academic community of Serbia, deans of faculties, representatives of the Association of Directors of Serbia, representatives of trade unions and others put together a joint platform for "saving education".
"In the given request, the actions that the state must take if it really wants to achieve results are specified quite precisely. In the event that he does not accept the given Platform, we are written black. For years now, faculties that train teaching staff have been enrolling a single-digit number of students", says Gašić.
He adds that in ten years there will be no professors who will be able to replace those who retire, and that will be "the end of the future of Serbia." It is up to the Government to take the next step".
Finally, Mirjana Gašić explains that instead of raising awareness in society about the importance of the teaching profession, about how sacred a profession it is to be a teacher, to enlighten the young generation, a wrong image is being created about the teacher as a non-worker who "has three months of vacation".
"It is impossible to convince the public that this is an absolute delusion, because the same public blindly watches media content, does not think about the other information that comes to it, let alone think of 'defending and understanding' the teacher." Thus, the hands of the employees in education are tied, their mouths are gagged with the platitude - 'whatever they want, they just go on strike,'" says Gašić and concludes that "the car is rapidly continuing its path towards the abyss".
