Author: Klevis Paloka
On the day that the students of the 9-year-old school "Çajupi" fought, the attention was shifted to the two teachers who were considered the apple of the quarrel. While the four injured claimed that they had collided after the other party provoked a fight, the security officer of this school was nowhere to be seen. Although for 2 years, the Ministry of Education and Sports has launched a pilot project for attaching 150 officers to all public high schools in the country, these numbers have not yet been filled. But the biggest problem lies in the dysfunction of the link between the employees at the school and the security officer.
This fact was confirmed by the Minister of Education, Evis Kushi, at a meeting of the Commission for Education and Public Information Media.
"An agreement has been concluded with the Ministry of the Interior and there is close cooperation with the staff at the school. Often cases that are problematic are referred to the security officer by psycho-social workers. Therefore, we have a very close cooperation and the cases of students who may be problematic are referred to the psycho-social worker to prevent further disturbing events at school". express minister Kushi in the meeting during the month of October.
But even though minister Khushi described the cooperation between the two ministries as successful, high school students, witnesses and experts confirm the opposite.
Students not only fight and bully, but also drink hashish
One of these is the high school graduate Sara L., from the "Petro Nini Luarasi" gymnasium, who has memorized a fight since she was in the 10th grade.
"I remember when I was in 10th grade, there was a knife fight between two students. All the students were horrified by the incident, as one of them was sent to the hospital, but that incident was not made public in the media, they kept it secret. In addition to fights in our high school, the phenomenon of bullying is also very widespread, it usually happens between 12th grade students and young 10th grade students.”, this is how Sara L, begins the narrative for "Sinjalizo".
The "Petro Nini Luarasi" gymnasium with about 1300 students is the third gymnasium with the most students in Tirana, after the "Ismail Qemali" and "Sami Frashëri" gymnasiums.
The 17-year-old emphasizes that there has never been a case of bullying, but she had friends who were bullied, while the security officer says that no one told her when she started working there.
"Personally, I have never had a case of bullying or any other problem, but I know friends who have been bullied for different things. Even though she is a security officer, hashish and tobacco continue to be consumed in our high school. Almost every week there are fights, but being a girl, the determined officer does not intervene, only informs the police. When he first came, no one introduced him to us, neither the teachers nor the school director. The students discovered it themselves by asking", says the graduate while adding that now during the end of the year holidays, they must be protected from the capsules that students throw in the yard, but also in the school's interior.
Problems like these are also expressed by the high school student "Eqerem Çabej", in Tirana. Unlike the "Petro Nini Luarasi" gymnasium, the 15-year-old IS, who is in the 10th grade this year, emphasizes that hashish is not consumed in this gymnasium, but only tobacco and there is a lot of bullying towards those who come for the first time.
"In our gymnasium, we do not smoke hashish, but only smoke in the classrooms, in the toilets and in the yard. What I have noticed, during these first 3 months, is the bullying towards students who come to school for the first time. Those who are now in 12th grade have an arrogant and bullying behavior towards 10th graders", says the 15-year-old for "Sinjalizo".
Problems not only in the city, but also in rural areas
Leaving the capital, in the rural areas, the problems are the same, bullying and fights between students. A major problem seen in these rural areas is the consumption of hashish.
At the "At Shtjefën Gjeçovi" gymnasium, in the city of Laçi, the most numerous problems are the consumption of hashish, the smell of which you can detect as soon as you enter the school yard. Even here there are no shortage of fights between students. Unlike Tirana, students who come from the villages of Laç encounter the biggest bullying in this high school. This is where the fights start.
"Since we are from the villages, there is a greater bullying towards us, and it is not that anything is done in this aspect, to prevent it. A lot of fights happen both in the classroom and in the school yard. Hashish is consumed in the school toilets, but also in the courtyard or corners of the school, so that sometimes it is difficult to pass there because of the strong smell. Another problem is the current time of the end of the year, when students set off pyrotechnics, both in the yard and in the school corridors.”, says the 16-year-old, PL, who is now in the 11th grade.
The same problems as the consumption of hashish in the school toilets, fights and bullying are also listed by the students of the "Arif Halil Sulaj" gymnasium in Mamurras and the Milot gymnasium in Kurbin.
What is officially said?
In the report published by the Pre-University Education Quality Assurance Agency for the 2020-2021 school year, 365 incidents were recorded. The Regional Pre-University Educational Directorate of Durrës tops the list with the most incidents. According to the report, 124 incidents have occurred in DRAP Durrës, followed by DRAP Korçë with 109 incidents, DRAP Lezha with 87 incidents and closes DRAP Fieri with 45 incidents.
In the DRAP of Durres, the Tirana Local Education Office has the highest number of incidents, with 68 incidents. In the DRAP of Korça, the highest number of incidents has the ZVA Elbasan with 36 incidents. In the DRAP of Lezha, the ZVA Kukës leads with the highest number of incidents with 28 incidents and for the DRAP of Fier, the ZVA of Fier has the highest number of incidents with 14 incidents.
According to this report, the most incidents occurred in the month of October, 87 of them or 23.8% of the total incidents. As for the incidents that occurred, it leads the incidents with physical violence with 38.1%, followed by psychological violence with 13,7%, violation of school regulations with 13.2% and ends with bullying with 7.7%.
Experts: Not only violence, but there are abuses
According to the INSTAT report, for the 2020-2021 school year, 107.989 students are enrolled in secondary education.
According to the education expert Dr. Ndriçim Mehmeti, sexual abuse by teachers towards students has recently increased. According to Mehmet, the promise that the security officer would change the situation is nothing but a show.
"I have said before, it seems to me that the position of the security officer is simply to secure a salary somewhere and certainly within the framework of the spectacle, with supposedly new initiatives for the school that are unfairly called reforms. I do not know that there is a similar model around us and beyond, even more so when school management should be a task of the teaching staff, school leaders, community of parents, etc. Reports from schools tell us about sexual abuse by teachers against students, guards, and students among themselves, but surprisingly the security officer knows nothing and we find out through the press.", says education expert Mehmeti.
The expert emphasizes the problems within the walls of the school, which according to him are dominated by two phenomena: bullying and the use of hashish.
"In our schools, bullying is the law, smoking is allowed from the sixth grade onwards, the yard, toilets and the area around the school stinks of hashish and again the security officer does not know anything. We have severe behavior, discipline, communication problems that are becoming more and more serious. This shows that the security officer, as I mentioned, is a link, which does not provide any solution and moreover seems to be very distant from the problems of the school. It seems clear that there is no coordination between it and other school structures, such as: the Board of Parents, the Council of Parents, the Council of Teachers and leaders of educational institutions", Mehmeti emphasizes.
In the end, he adds that he does not see the placement of security officers in high schools as a real solution and that the school itself should solve its problems.
"They are not a real solution to the problems faced by Albanian high schools. Educational institutions of all levels must be trained and prepared to solve their own problems. For this purpose, the community of parents, teachers, school leaders and local government, students must be in complete harmony, to respect the importance of the institution to the maximum, work together for a safe, clean environment , away from violence, alcohol, drugs, etc. We are proud of the "community center" school project. Where are we with this project, what has changed for the better in our schools, in how many schools has it been extended, etc. Again we lack these data and those who trumpeted it as a success continue to be in the highest positions of the state and do not bear any responsibility for the spectacular failures that have come as a result of the failed policies they have adopted", concludes Dr. Mehmet.
Sociologists: We need cooperation from everyone
Entela Binjaku, a well-known sociologist, maintains that students' problems should be under everyone's attention.
"For the problems that young high school students have, such as: the use of prohibited substances, violence in relationships between them, conflicts with teachers, breaking discipline at school, non-respect of student obligations and responsibilities, etc., in my opinion, there is a need for the help of everyone. What needs to be done is the cooperation and interaction of everyone: from the board of parents, the community of parents, the directorate, the teachers of the subject and the guardian teachers, the psychologist, the security officers where they are, to the law enforcement officer who stays near the school", says for "Sinjalizo", sociologist Twinjaku.
So the violence in the school grounds is confirmed by one more report of UNESCO. In Albania, the prevalence of students who reported being raped was 19.9%, about 22.6% among boys and 17.3% among girls. The figures are higher among 11-year-olds, where according to the report about 23.8% have admitted that they have experienced bullying or violence at school in one of its forms, while among 13-year-olds this ratio is 20%.
