UNICEF PROJECT LAUNCH: A SAFE SCHOOL FOR EVERY CHILD IN SERBIA

“School without Violence - Towards A Safe and Enabling Environment for Children”

Belgrade, 3 October 2005 – UNICEF Area Representative Ann-Lis Svensson, Minister of Education and Sports, H.E. Mr. Slobodan Vuksanovic, and Minister of Health, H.E. Mr. Tomica Milosavljevic today launched the “School without Violence - Towards Safe and Enabling Environment for Children” project.

The “School without Violence” is a comprehensive program to educate children, teachers, parents and the broader community in Serbia about the ongoing problem of intolerance, violence and harassment at schools. UNICEF will implement this novel program together with the Ministry of Education and Sports, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Affairs, the Council for Children’s Rights and the Institute for the Advancement of Education.

Beginning as a pilot in four Serbian primary schools in October, the program will expand to 50 schools in the second half of the 2005-06 school year once an evaluation of the pilot is completed.

The problem of violence among children is not a new one in Serbia. But for far too long it has been neglected and allowed to exist on the periphery of the national consciousness. The goals of this new UNICEF project are multifold: to bring the problem of bullying and violence in school into the daylight; to raise the consciousness of parents and community members regarding the right of every child to feel secure at school; to make a protective network within all schools; to connect this network with outside services and resources, and to preventively respond before the threat of serious incidents escalates. To accomplish these goals parents and the entire community must join together to combat violence against school children in all its verbal, psychological and physical manifestations. The ultimate goal is to prevent and reduce violence within schools and to create schools that are secure and nurturing learning environments for children and adolescents.

Initial funds for the project’s start-up were collected in July at a basketball match organised by UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia and Montenegro Aleksandar Sasa Djordjevic. Today’s press conference marked the kick-off of a national campaign to promote safe, enabling schools as well as the launch of a fundraising campaign to raise additional monies for the implementation of this effort in schools throughout Serbia.

To support the UNICEF SAFE, SECURE SCHOOLS PROJECT donors can:

** Send an SMS directly to 1056 number on all mobile networks

** Make a direct donation to a UNICEF Bank number: 908-20501-70 Account number: 50311-1945-8-00618