Instead of circulating knowledge in schools, there are… daggers and knives! Even in the native classes! The sad realization belongs to the president of “Smile of the Child” Costas Yiannopoulos, who was in Patras, for the first presentation in schools of the region, of the short film “Thoughts of Nefelis”, created by “Smile of the Child”, in the context of raising awareness and mobilizing students, parents and teachers about school bullying.
“Anti-bullying events are good, but pointing the finger at kids and telling them what to do is good on the one hand, but on the other hand, are we sure they’re listening?” asked the Mr. Yiannopoulos speaking to “P» and added:
“For this reason we also created this film, which has been made from the “Smile of the Child” and gives a stimulus to children to speak and express their own opinions. Through the film, children have the opportunity to recognize the feelings of a child who is being bullied and at the same time increase their empathy.
And we see once again, in yet another area, this time in Patras, the children talking. And especially those who have experienced the horrors of bullying. They usually keep it a secret, they don’t tell. And they don’t share it.”
“VIOLENCE IS BEING EXPORTED”
-Did native students talk to you about cases of bullying and violence?
Because of the movie, the children opened their hearts here as well. And that’s what we want to keep. Don’t let bullying go out of school and turn into violence. It is not a matter for the police or the prosecutor. It is not a matter of delinquency. It becomes a matter of delinquency, when we reach the point where we see in Patras and throughout Greece, an export of violence. And unfortunately, it’s something that happens.
– What is the current situation in schools today?
A professor said that we do not have as many problems of violence and intimidation as the USA and Great Britain, but that is where we are heading. And when we get to that point, it will be too late!
We have been saying for a long time that there are slow-burning bombs that will explode one day and now they are exploding. The avalanche has started and the results are very bad. And we have to somehow heal those wounds. And we increasingly have bigger problems: Knives in schools, daggers already from the 4th and 5th grade!
A teacher at a school in Athens told us that after a coordinated check he did, he collected 60 knives and automatic daggers from his students!
-Why is all this happening?
Juvenile officers say that “the kids are very angry! They are not taken care of, just processed. Childhood is neglected and the welfare state is under-functioning. Children live in a digital world, which is not accessible to adults. In the electronic alana they are children, there everything is massive and uncontrollable. The average family works around the clock to make ends meet, we need to focus on family and mental health. Teachers play the main role. And we must say that there are some enlightened people who want to do their work, but the parents don’t let them. All players of this game need to sit down and figure it out. We propose tools to the ministry and the institutions, which are certified by the EU and which are intended to shield the school, to empower teachers.
“PATRA IS NO EXCEPTION”
– What you describe also happens in traditional schools?
Certainly, Patras could not be an exception. Kids go to class with daggers and knives! It is a sign of enforcement.
I will tell you the following. Yesterday I went to Ilia. We also passed through Lehine and the square with what we saw scared me: Little girls walking around in provocative clothing and on the other hand boys with an obvious aggression in their eyes. And with an anger! So if this is happening in a rural village, no one understands what will happen in the big cities.
– In Patras, is the bullying of children and children’s deviations increased?
As “Smile of the Child”, we refrain from reporting specific and detailed data for each region and for each city, in order not to target societies. But I can definitely tell you that we have increased incidents of school bullying in Patras, but this may be because more mouths are opening here in Patras. That is, the smaller a society is, the more difficult it is for someone to talk about such issues.
“DO NOT BROADCAST VIDEOS OF VIOLENCE”
– Is there a realistic proposal to stop the phenomenon?
There are solutions, there are suggestions. Stop the desperate moves. We will support whatever the Ministry of Education puts out, we will support whatever the state institutions announce. On the other hand, we have tools to aid this effort. And what we have to do is to solve the problem from the base, from where it starts. And not to wait for it to be solved by repression. We need to stop labeling children involved in bullying incidents. We must finally understand that the abuser is not an abuser, he is a child who also needs help. To stop using the words, perpetrator, victim and gang. He is not an abuser, he is the one who does violence. We will make him a bully if we let him use violence and take that violence out into the streets. And we have told the media, as a “Smile of the Child”, not to reproduce the videos that show phenomena of violence. Because this visual material empowers those who practice violence, those observers, who enjoy it.
Don’t we even see this in video games? Also, in the lyrics of some songs, don’t we see that? I repeat, it is very easy to point the finger at children, but all we are doing is bringing them against us!
We must note that the educational community must have a catalytic role in preventing and dealing with incidents of intra-school violence. We have invited them and we are doing it again through your newspaper, to create a cooperation network with the “Smile of the Child”, so that we can do our best to eliminate the phenomenon of abuse and bullying of children.
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