Children in Schools Face Many Problems

Students themselves say that there are physical, emotional, sexual harassment, and many other scandals within the educational system that often remain untreated.

According to Kosovo Youth Council representative Agnes Qerimi, although scandals are heard and seen within schools, no one takes any concrete steps to eliminate them.

She says that since 2006, these concerns have been addressed and that students themselves have addressed them within schools, but that they have not been taken into account.

In 2006, the Council of Students published a report presenting the positions of this Council. So I think it had to be taken into account the recommendations that have presented the real state within schools. If taken into account, we wouldn't have so many scandals”.

We're seeing nepotism scandals, corruption, we see such cases and institutions are still not doing anything concrete. These policies we have and this educational system do not meet the needs of students”, she said.

On the other hand, Klevis Vajqari from the Coalition for Child Protection said one of the problems that has been raised are strikes held this year. According to him, all other interest parties have revealed their interests until children or students have been ignored and have suffered from all of this.

“One of the elements we've discussed has been teachers' strikes that were held this year. The psychological state, pressure on students carrying tests, the program has been more dense, all of this has produced stress, anxiety and has caused emotional distress in students. So none of this has been taken into consideration and it is not considered where we came to the end for students”, Vajsari said.

It has also cited inadequate quartilla with apparent errors, inadequate terminology, often discriminatory affecting the education of growing generations. Meanwhile, Ymer Resiti, representative of the Council of Parents of Kosovo, said there is enough room in this area to make changes. He added that different interest groups continue to interfere with the education system, given the children's interest.

The parent's “Role should be more active by seeking responsibility from institutions responsible for all irregularities taking place in the educational system”, he said. However, if we focus solely on child abuse and harassment in schools, which are very disturbing phenomena, they are not rare. Even so, children's rights organisations say reports of this phenomenon are many smaller than they occur in reality.

According to rule authorities, during 2018, five cases of sexual harassment were reported in Kosovo's primary and secondary schools. The statistics that police hold in 2017 were three reported cases. And three cases of sexual harassment were reported during 2016.