House: PS Calls on Parties to Support Proposal to Increase School Safety

Bratislava, March 18 (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party is calling on all parliamentary parties to support its proposed law aimed at increasing school safety, which seeks to improve awareness among schools regarding 'problematic' students and strengthen the powers of educational institutions, party representatives stated at a press conference on Tuesday. PS proposes that when a problematic student transfers to another school or moves on to secondary school, the original school should be required to provide all necessary information about the student. Additionally, both adult students and legal guardians should be obliged to inform the school of any important circumstances related to the student. Information should also be provided by all institutions that have worked with the problematic student, including, for example, probation and mediation officers. If there is a serious incident, the school should be required to inform the police or social guardianship services. According to the proposal, if a student switches to remote learning, they should undergo professional assessments to determine their future educational path. Additionally, the proposal states that students who pose a threat could be temporarily excluded from in-person education for up to ten days, but only after prior consultation with counselling and prevention services. In response to the recent tragedy at the grammar school in Spisska Stara Ves, the Education Ministry introduced a directive on bullying, but according to MP Ingrid Kosova (PS), it only relates to the case marginally. She's therefore calling for comprehensive and systematic solutions from the ministry, which should not be based on punitive justice. The victims of the knife attack that took place at the grammar school in Spisska Stara Ves on January 16 were two women, aged 18 and 51, a student and the school's deputy headteacher. Another student was injured. The police have charged the suspect, an 18-year-old student, with premeditated murder. The accused student had threatened his classmates via text messages a few days before the attack. At the time, the police assessed this behavior as bullying, not as a criminal offence. lin/df