The Government of the Canton of Sarajevo accepted today the information from the Ministry of Education of the CS on the existing procedures aimed at the protection and safety of students in schools, with a proposal for measures to improve procedures in the relevant cantonal ministries with a special focus on dealing with crisis, sudden situations, and a proposal for measures for improvement of primary prevention by departments.
The government tasked the relevant ministries to take the measures and actions within their competence, contained in the information, within 60 days.
As pointed out, the focus is on primary prevention and improvement of measures aimed at strengthening the character strengths and virtues of children and young people, improving the conditions for their proper psychophysical development, as well as providing support for socially acceptable forms of behavior, the Government of Sarajevo Canton announced.
The goal is to improve already existing procedures in the handling of referral mechanisms in the community in case of identified risk factors for the child/student, as a secondary form of prevention.
The third goal is to establish a system of action by competent services in case of sudden, crisis events, in situations where the best interests of the child are at risk, i.e. crisis management.
As part of the improvement of measures for the primary prevention of unacceptable forms of behavior and protection of students, key programs are aimed at strengthening and affirming the character strengths and virtues of students. With this goal in mind, the Ministry of Education and the Institute for the Development of Pre-University Education CS implement and plan numerous curricular, extracurricular and special programs. It is necessary, as concluded, from the budget of the Canton of Sarajevo to finance school sports programs and content programs of cultural institutions adapted and intended for the age of children/students. This activity is carried out by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Ministry of Education of the CS, as the carrier of the activity.
The Ministry of Labour, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees of the Canton of Sarajevo is responsible for adopting a new Action Plan for the prevention of juvenile delinquency and work with juveniles in contact with the judicial system in the Canton of Sarajevo as soon as possible.
It is also necessary to increase responsibility and approach every problem in which the interests of children/students are at risk in a multisectoral manner, and the procedures for multisectoral action in crisis situations are the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and refugees, and the Ministry of Health of Sarajevo Canton.
It is also necessary to create a communication scheme for reporting incidents at school, to implement additional trainings for the actions of schools, social protection services, mental health centers and police officers in case of emergency crisis events at school. This activity is carried out by: the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees, the Ministry of Health, and the CS Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office. The activity is coordinated by the Ministry of Education of the CS.
It is necessary to develop and implement policies to protect the privacy of all participants in a crisis event, is another measure, the implementation of which is in charge of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees and the Ministry of Health CS.