| | | School Days in Sweden
Posted on January 4, 2024 by Baron Bodissey
Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Nyheter Idag:
Chokings and threats of “halal slaughter” — Everyday violence in middle schools in Skåne)
Pupils who are choked, beaten, and humiliated, teachers who are attacked when they try to intervene, and children who threaten to take a knife to school to “halal-slaughter” other children. This is how everyday life looks in three Skåne middle schools according to an investigation done by Sydsvenskan.
The newspaper examined the Naverlönn School in Svedala, Hjärups School, and Ljungen School in Furulund, which were chosen because they are of the same size, are located in the periphery communities outside Malmö and Lund, and the examination covered three time frames, all of 2022 and the spring of 2023.
In one case, the newspaper revealed that a boy was chased through the schoolyard and kicked when he was down. He was threatened with violence if he tried to get away, held in a chokehold, and his face rubbed with a shoe.
“Every week, some sort of fight happens. When the younger students run out of words, then it goes to a kick, a shove, or occasionally a choking,” says Naverlönn School principal Anna Moberg to Sydsvenskan.
In another case, sixth graders chased a pupil through the school. When a teacher tried to intervene, she was attacked, shoved, and pulled by the arm. The pupil who was attacked managed to break loose and seek shelter in a group room.
In one report, it states that “a pupil threatens to take a knife to school and ‘halal-slaughter’ another pupil,” while in another report, a pupil threatened to kill another pupil for several days, “if not today then some other day.”
In one fall, a school employee testifies how a pupil was struck several times in the face. After a visit to the health center, it is reported that the affected pupil received a slight concussion and had sores in his mouth.
The attacking pupil says in a conversation that he had experienced a threatening situation and had been told by his father “that it is OK to hit back”. During a family meeting, it comes out that the father has given “permission” to hit and “didn’t see any problem” with that.
“In the cases where cooperation with parents is more difficult, we see challenges in working with the pupils in school, “says social pedagogist Emelie Eldsvan at Naverlönn School to Sydsvenskan.
“Every two weeks on average, alarming reports on pupils at the school are sent to social services. What is positive is that together we apply for more and more guardians. Parents themselves feel they need help,” says Principal Anna Moberg to the newspaper. |
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