Secondary school authorities are working on updating the action protocol in the face of repeated episodes of violence that have been taking place in various schools. It was one of the central points of the discussion that took place last Wednesday during the presence of the senior staff of the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) in the Education Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.
There, the president of the Secondary Education Council (CES), Jenifer Cherro, called on legislators to become aware of the situations of insecurity that exist in high school environments, especially those in the metropolitan area. “At the entrances or exits there have been situations of theft, of students being intercepted,” said.
Also, he pointed out, there will be contacts at a higher level and request “That you can do a patrol or go around more often,” and thus prevent situations that not only affect students but also adults who work in high schools.
Cherro told legislators a series of events that have occurred in recent weeks. At Liceo 9 de Colón, an 18-year-old former student entered in his high school uniform, approached the bathroom when a female student entered, and said “a series of things in a raised tone.” The girl, he said, told the deputy director. The police and family were called, and the student was referred to the center’s psychologist. In this case, it was a verbal assault.
In Liceo 41, located in El Cerrito, in the middle of the shift change in the presence of relatives of students, two armed persons appeared and threatened two female students, “withdrew” cell phones and ran away. According to Cherro, the police were informed and psychologists were also intervened. “I myself called the mothers of the students to put myself under orders,” she said. “What happened was a robbery. No, it’s not unrelated, but it happened between the gate and the main door, not inside the school,” she explained.
Another episode reported by Cherro took place at Liceo 4 de Las Piedras. It was in a literature class, which was being taught in the courtyard. What happened was that two girls, who were friends, abruptly stopped being friends and became violent. “There was a blow and a push between them and the teacher intervened, who ended up sitting in the middle in an effort to separate them,” explained the president of Secondary.
“More than one of us has gone from intervening in disputes between students and ending up with a blow”, admitted.
Before the commission, Cherro explained the reasons why, in his opinion, these situations occur. In his opinion, the exit from the health emergency means that “certain social issues” re-channeled through violence.
“We have been detained, living in two planes in 2020 and 2021”said. “Things are now back to normal and the entire functioning of society comes with certain behaviors that were not correct, that occurred and that we are going to have to prevent,” he added.
Cherro spoke of the effects that the pandemic had on the whole of society and that they have an impact on educational centers. “We cannot say that nothing has happened to us,” express. “Many of us have lost family members whom we have not even been able to fire, due to the conditions in which they had to leave.”
In this regard, the president of the CES announced that Secondary is preparing a call to incorporate psychologists. The reason: the current list is exhausted, so a new call had to be prepared. “We need human resources, since when the project of having multidisciplinary teams was born, the Basic Cycle was taken into account preferably, but we understand that students who have certain problems also take them to Baccalaureate,” he said. “It’s not that you change the cycle and change your problems.”
Problems with the interpreters
In the commission, the Frente Amplio deputy Enzo Malán raised the situation of the deaf students, who missed three weeks of class due to the inconveniences registered in the choice of hours by the interpreters who help them follow the courses.
The problem was detected in Technical-Professional Education. Its president, Juan Pereyra, explained that the previous administration had united the election lists for positions in Montevideo and Canelones. Thus, you could choose between both departments. A practice that he, he recounted, was common in recent years. What happened was that on February 17 the interpreters filed a formal claim to do it separately since, apparently, those from Canelones chose Montevideo and left the Canarian department without hours. This legally forced the suspension of the call.
According to the hierarch there is another problem: “Guys with these problems came to talk to me. They sign up, we put the interpreter and they don’t go,” Pereira said. “Then, the interpreter is practically without activity all year round. Before the legislators, he pointed out that these professions are “difficult”.
“One asks them: ‘this boy is not here, we are going to take care of someone else here’ and they say: ‘No, they appointed me to be here.’ It’s complicated.”
