The Chairman of the Education Committee of the Parliament, Kyriakos Hatzigiannis, in his statements today referred to a factional competition for who will sell more drugs in a specific school.
The Parliamentary Committee on Education continued today, in a closed session, the discussion on the issue of school bullying, cases of delinquency in schools and ways to deal with them.
In his statements after the end of the meeting of the Education Committee, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that in relation to school delinquency, the Ministry of Education came before the Committee today with a comprehensive proposal, which was informed and which it intends in the near future. to submit it to the Council of Ministers.
"We asked that before the proposal for a strategic response to school delinquency was submitted to the Council of Ministers, a consultation or a discussion be held again and that educational and other organizations be heard, so that in the phase of preparation of the strategy they have the opportunity to be heard. or to educate the actors in the field of education together ", he added.
"Things are happening in schools," Mr. Hatzigiannis continued.
"There have been incidents that do not honor us. But this corresponds and is not the overall picture of our students, it is not the overall picture of our schools, but neither is the behavior of teachers. It is a very small percentage, 0,1%, that exactly this 0,1% includes everything, from delinquencies with illegalities from drugs to sexual harassment and of all kinds, in any case delinquent phenomena for which a further analysis, as a study, based on which the strategy will be determined ", he added.
Asked if there is a plan to deal with offenders, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that there is ongoing legislation by the Ministry of Justice for young offenders, which is at an advanced stage where the consultation with the Ministry of Justice for this legislation begins, before it submitted to the Council of Ministers and consequently to the Parliament.
Asked if the Commission has been informed before what measures can be taken in these cases, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that reports were made in relation to measures.
"This legislation concerns offenders over 14 years old, but there are offenders who are under 14 years old and you realize that no one can punish them. There are measures that were suggested by the Ministry of Education. This package or the crime prevention plan should be part of the overall strategy, which is on the verge of reaching the Council of Ministers. "I can not say specific measures because we are still in the strategy phase," he added.
Answering a question, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that the first issue they always face is who is the guardian or who is responsible for custody of a person and where the problems start with the assignment of rights as to what will be applied to it. the specific child.
Asked if there are figures for delinquency, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that there are more than 100 cases a year, serious incidents.
"Such behaviors or incidents have to do with drug trafficking, drug use, bullying, bullying of various forms. "So, they are all in, they are all forms of behavior from criminal to much less serious offenses," he noted.
Asked if these children or their families will be monitored by a psychologist, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that it would be a suggestion of the multidisciplinary Committee on how to deal with the specific incident, hence the individual.
Answering a relevant question, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that it is not the school that produces delinquency.
"The school manages delinquency. Our society and family deliver delinquent children to schools and then there is deterioration through socializing. Therefore, the school should manage it in a precautionary manner and in the operating regulations, that if they are approved on Friday, we have received such provisions in order to give powers to the school itself, to act precautionarily at the beginning of the year and prepare plan how to deal with delinquency on the spot for that school. This means that this school will take into account the social environment of the area or city and will not be just a pan-Cypriot approach. "One region has an A social structure, another region has a different social status," he added.
Regarding the situation of Cyprus in the issue of delinquency in relation to other countries, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that "we are far from the moment when we do not have a structured, integrated strategy and planning" and added that "we are a small country and "It is inconceivable for me to have attitudes in school, for the factions to compete over who will sell the most in a particular school."
Asked if he meant drugs, Mr. Hatzigiannis answered in the affirmative.
"These are unthinkable and it is very dangerous that there is no mechanism that can bring results," he added.
Asked about the incident of a drug addict entering a school, Mr. Hatzigiannis said that operating regulations should be made for primary education as well, taking into account how a primary school should function, who are the beneficiaries to behave and roam in or out of school.
"But without strengthened school administrations, we will have a continuation of this situation. "We are addressing this problem through middle school regulations, because we are strengthening the role of the Principal, the role of the school and the role of the Assistant Principals, even these teachers", he noted.
DIKO MP Panikos Leonidou, in his statements, said that many complaints are received daily about problems, violations, crimes that occur daily in schools.
"As a Parliament we want to contribute and assist in resolving this very serious issue, especially school bullying. The Government is currently preparing, after our intervention, to present to the Council of Ministers a specific strategic planning proposal. Our position today, which we have expressed to the Commission, is that although there should be strategic planning, it should be preceded by the creation of a body, which will involve all the organizations that are related to these phenomena, but mainly to move forward. in conducting a research with recipients and participants children, students and teachers, so that there is a record of the cause and reasons that create all these phenomena ", he concluded.
Source: KYPE