The Council of Europe Programme Office in Podgorica, in cooperation with the Assembly of the Capital City of Podgorica, and in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation and the NGO Parents Association, celebrated Inclusion Day.
for the occasion, a panel was organised on the topic of peer violence in schools and how it excludes children from their school and social environments. The goal was to draw additional attention to the growing presence of this phenomenon in schools and their surroundings, and to emphasise the importance of joint efforts in combating it. The phenomenon was discussed from different perspectives, and various solutions and recommendations were jointly considered for further steps in prevention of and response to violence.
The Council of Europe is the leading and oldest human rights organization on the European continent, as recalled by Lejla Dervišagić, Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Podgorica. “Violence is, in fact, a direct violation of human rights. The Council of Europe Programme Office in Podgorica is actively engaged, above all, in preventing this phenomenon. We do this through our overall activities, primarily through education projects. Within our actions, we contribute to schools being environments where all children feel accepted, regardless of their differences, and to schools being safe and supportive environments for all children” - she concluded.
The President of the Assembly of the Capital City of Podgorica, Jelena Borovinić Bojović, Aleksandra Kuč from the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, and Kristina Mihailović from the Parents Association also spoke on the panel. The event was particularly enhanced by the participation of Dr Jelena Kovačević from the Centre for Early Development of Children at the Clinical Centre of Montenegro, who spoke about the impact of violence on child development and provided recommendations on the roles of parents, teachers, and the overall system in supporting children.
The panel brought together students from primary schools across the Capital City, as well as their parents, teachers, and school professionals. In a very active discussion, participants pointed out the everyday challenges they face and offered numerous useful suggestions for future action to curb violence.
The event was organised within the framework of the projects "Quality education for all", which is part of the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe, "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey", and "Prevent bullying and violence in schools in Montenegro", financed by Germany.
Inclusion Day is marked worldwide on 10 October, while in Montenegro, the then Ministry of Education and the Bureau for Education Services established 11 October as Inclusion Day in 2017, through education projects implemented under the Horizontal Facility programme. In this context, the Bureau for Education Services proposed that schools celebrates National Inclusion Week from 12 to 18 October this year.
