School Violence requires a Comprehensive Approach

The Alliance of active NGOs in the Field of Child and Family Social Protection (APSCF) expresses its concern regarding the legislative initiative of a group of MPs aiming to ensure the protection for teachers against violence against them. According to the informative note, the purpose of the initiative is to counteract the phenomenon of violence in schools, in particular of violence against teachers.

We appreciate the concern of the MPs about the problem of violence in schools, but, in our opinion, such an approach is flawed. This phenomenon is a complex one, and cannot be examined from the single perspective of the teachers. School violence requires a comprehensive approach, taking into consideration all of its forms, first and foremost, and of the most serious and violent manifestations in the school context such as peer violence and bullying.

There is no clarity in the legislation of the Republic of Moldova regarding the notion of “school violence”, and its prevention and combating is not explicitly the subject of national policies and programs, including by budget allocation for their implementation.

In this context, APSCF has developed an opinion on the draft law no. 224 from 04.10.2019 regarding the modification of some legislative acts (ensuring the protection of the teachers against the threats and the actions of violence directed against them) that you can find here (in Romanian).