2023-06-30 09:23:42
Testimony Yana (not her real name), a 14-year-old girl, was harassed for months by several students at her school. The girl even ended up in the hospital with a cerebral hemorrhage. To solve the problem, the school management preferred to isolate Yana during breaks. “The director told me that I risked not getting my diploma if I talked regarding it around me”, explains the teenager who still decided to tell her story to our colleagues from the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.
Rédaction 30-06-23, 11:23 Dernière mise à jour: 12:25 Source: The Latest News
“I don’t like to show it, but I cry often. I really didn’t want it to happen this way,” Yana explains straight away, her voice full of emotion.
A trial
It has now been four months since the teenager has been the victim of harassment from other students at her secondary school in Lokeren. Yana is nevertheless relieved that the school year is over. And for good reason, in addition to being harassed and abused by several bullies, the young girl had the feeling of having been punished by the management of her school. The double penalty, in short.
Initially, Yana did not even know her executioners. “These are four girls and a boy, older than me. They first started to bully my friends but when I stood up for them they attacked me,” she explains. Her stalkers never let her go. “They started insulting me, hitting me… They threw my things and my phone on the ground, followed me home and even threatened to push me into the river.”
Cerebral hemorrhage
Things got completely out of hand in mid-March when Yana ended up in the hospital following being picked on once more by her stalkers. A particularly violent attack since the teenager suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and had her nose broken. “I didn’t remember anything. I suddenly found myself in a hospital bed and the doctors told me that I had to stay there for a week. I was completely panicked,” recalls Yana. No teacher witnessed the assault. “There are almost never supervisors and the bullies can do what they want,” laments the young girl.
Three of the five bullies were expelled from school, but Yana’s ordeal did not end there. “The first day of school following the incident, two girls came to see me. “Look, she’s back,” they immediately shouted, following which they started threatening me. My mother asked them to stop, but they also threatened her. I was afraid that they would hurt my parents,” admits Yana.
Back at school, Yana was put aside during breaks, in a small hall or in the study hall. “The school management told me it was to protect myself, but I felt like I was being punished,” sobbed the teenager. “I thought it was unfair. I wanted to be with the rest of my class, but I was forbidden,” she says. “The manager also told me she mightn’t hire a bodyguard because I wanted to see my friends.”
Yana with her parents. © Wannes Nimmegeers
“The school really didn’t support her”
Even in solitary confinement, the bullies knew where to find Yana. “One day, I was sitting alone in the study hall, when one of them passed by. He waved through the door, ‘I’ll get you soon,’ and I was afraid to sit there all alone,” she recalled.
Yana’s parents also felt helpless. “The school really didn’t support her,” says her mum. “When she had to go to school, it was always a real torture for us. Knowing that those bullies were still walking around there… Every time we received his messages from the study hall, we were desperate,” his mother told HLN.
Her parents say they were turned away from school when they wanted to see their daughter, who was alone in the study room. “The management told us that we weren’t allowed to see our daughter,” says her father. “According to them, it was impossible for Yana to be alone in this room. However, she had sent us photos proving the opposite”, he adds. The school ended up calling the police to get the parents out. “We immediately filed a complaint following that”, concludes his mother.
A new start
The school year is now over and Yana has just learned that she has passed and is therefore moving on to the next year. The teenager is impatient to change schools and wants to forget this school year as soon as possible. “I tried very hard at school, but the headmistress told me that I risked not getting my diploma if I talked regarding it around me. It really scared me.”
Yana hopes her testimony will help other victims of bullying. “I don’t want anyone to end up in the same situation,” she concludes.
The school reacts: “Nobody wins”
Contacted by Het Laatste Nieuws, the management of the VLOT school! in Lokeren did not wish to go into the details of this case of school harassment. “We have tried, with dedication and attention, to give the best possible education to this student”, explains the director of communication of the establishment.
“We regret that the relationship with the parents has become so tense, no one wins,” he continues. “It is disappointing and painful for our colleagues to see all our efforts being denigrated by the publication of a one-sided story in the media. For confidentiality reasons we cannot, as a school, give more details”, concludes the director of communication of the VLOT school!
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