The case of the shooting that happened this morning in the "Vladislav Ribnikar" elementary school is the worst in the history of schools in Serbia. In the last few years, the public has been shaken by cases of violence against educational workers in schools throughout Serbia. A student in Smederevska Palanka slashed her face with a knife, students in Tretenik slipped their teacher's chair, recorded it all and publicly humiliated her. In Sremska Mitrovica, in 2019, during classes, an eighth-grade student physically attacked and injured the school principal. In Užice in the same year, a teacher was beaten by a former student, who also threatened two female teachers of a high school. In Belgrade in 2019, a teacher who tried to separate two students was punched in the head by one of them.
The cases continued to pile up, and meanwhile teachers are constantly exposed to insults, cyber-violence, and are threatened in class. In the past, working at a school brought respect in the local community and the advantage of summer vacation. Until today, the daily life of many teachers and professors in Serbia was unpleasant, and from today we can officially say that their lives are also in danger.
Teachers have already asked for protection
In order to protect themselves and feel safe in their workplace, the Union of Trade Unions of Serbian Educators (USPRS) asked the Government of Serbia last year that teachers be given the status of official persons and that the legal regulations be changed urgently.
The status of an official would mean that all attacks that have been treated disciplinary in schools until now will receive some more difficult classifications, with misdemeanor and criminal charges. This would also mean harsher sanctions for abusers.
The Minister of Education, Branko Ružić, said on that occasion that "problems are not solved by a strike, but by the synergy of all actors", and that everyone has the right to express their opinion, but that the law should not be violated.
Many cases under the radar
In Serbia, according to UNICEF data from 2019, about 65 percent of male and female students experienced violence at least once, and 22 percent of them reported frequent peer violence.
It is also stated that 70 percent of boys and 68 percent of girls from sixth to eighth grade experienced gender-based violence at school.
Of the 173 state schools in Belgrade, at least 67 reported a more severe form of peer violence between January and the previous four months, they show the data collected by the Center for Investigative Journalism (CINS). About 21 percent of children commit violence, according to national report of UNICEF for Serbia.
The number of cases of violence is probably even higher than the statistics say, but many of them go under the radar, so the problem is solved within the school facilities.
In operation Violent behavior of students towards teachers in high school in 2018, research has shown that in Serbia, around 80 percent of teachers who work in secondary schools experience some form of violence during the school year.
The data show that the majority of cases refer to verbal violence, but physical attacks, theft of personal property and intimidation are also present.
It's not the first time a school has been shot
The shooting that happened this morning in an elementary school in Belgrade reminded of a scenario that, now too often, happens in American schools and colleges. In Serbia, the last case of school shooting was recorded in September 2019 in Velika Plana, about 100 kilometers from Belgrade.
An unknown man entered a high school philosophy class with an automatic rifle.
Two shots were fired, but no one was injured.
Apart from legal regulations, these cases raise the question of the availability of weapons. According to data from the Provincial Secretariat for Education on violence against and among students from 2010, every tenth high school student in Vojvodina carried a weapon to school, the research showed.
It is estimated that citizens in the region have nine times more weapons than the army and the police, and in terms of the number of weapons per capita, Serbia and Montenegro lead, she showed. global Small Arms Survey (Small Arms Survey) from 2018.
ZS/Nova/BBC
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