The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) calls on the institutions of the Republic of Serbia to react without delay in order to suppress the violence to which school teachers in Serbia have been increasingly exposed in recent months. The latest case, in which the mother of a fifth-grade elementary school student in New Belgrade brutally beat the biology teacher just because she was not satisfied with the grade at the end of the school year, shows that these are no longer isolated cases that happen in some remote places, but that we are facing an increasingly common pattern of violent behavior towards educators in Serbia.
We remind you that only less than a month ago, teachers organized a large protest, also as a reaction to a case of violence against them, and that on that occasion the Government of the Republic of Serbia promised them that changes to the Criminal Code would be made as a matter of urgency in order to increase the criminal-legal protection of educational workers.
Despite the announcement without implementation, cases of violence against teachers are becoming more frequent and more brutal, and representatives of institutions seem to react only if there is pressure from the public. That is why we ask the authorities in Serbia what still needs to happen after the tragic events of a year ago and the spiral of violence in schools, which is increasingly turning towards those who should be the foundation of education in every normal country, so that finally took decisive measures in order to return not only the dignity of educational workers, but now also their basic safety?
