Video Competition Against Violence in Schools

Under the slogan "Camera on! Your message against violence and aggression", students of secondary level one and two are encouraged to implement their ideas of a positive school environment in the form of films. "Our schools must be safe places," declared Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) at a press conference on Thursday.

Education Minister Polaschek Presents Video Competition Against Violence in Schools

The videos, scripts or storyboards can be submitted by the young people until March 28, 2025, on the website of the Ministry of Education. The contributions should be between one and ten minutes long and deal with the topics of violence prevention, bullying and respectful school climate. "With the competition, we offer students not only a platform to formulate creative ideas for a respectful coexistence, but also promote a conscious and constructive confrontation with violence prevention," said Polaschek.

The video project is, alongside the mandatory child protection concepts that are to be created by each school by the end of the current school year, the initiative "Preventing Extremism in Schools", further training for teachers in the field of de-escalation management and cyberbullying, and cooperation with the police safety officers, a measure for violence prevention in schools. The project was presented on Thursday by Polaschek together with the judoka and Olympic medal winner Shamil Borchashvili, who has been holding workshops at schools under the motto "Become the best version of yourself" for some time and serves as a jury member in the initiative.

Extraordinary Students in Vienna: Education Minister Polaschek Sees "Great Challenge"

When asked about the number of extraordinary students - those who do not speak sufficient German to follow the lessons - Polaschek said: "Yes, it has increased. (..) That's why we have accordingly increased the support hours and invested 40 million euros in Vienna alone". In addition, German support programs have been expanded.

The federal capital faces a greater challenge because the children with poor German skills are less distributed than in the federal states. He does not think much of a proposal by the Greens to expand school choice through socio-economic criteria. This proposed that parents can specify five preferred schools in the future. The final allocation would be centrally according to the criteria of proximity to home, siblings, first language and educational level of the parents. "I believe this proposal is not very mature in its form". One would have to consider "what the consequences could be", namely, that parents who could afford it would send their children to private schools, said Polaschek.

Violence in Schools: FPÖ Criticizes Polaschek

Sharp criticism of the Minister of Education came from the Freedom Party. "One sees, notices and feels nothing of steps towards violence prevention on the part of the ÖVP-led Ministry of Education," said FPÖ education spokesman Hermann Brückl in a statement. Polaschek had "massively overslept the massive increase in criminal offenses at Austria's schools", which could not be disguised by "the ÖVP PR bubbles set at regular intervals".

Brückl blamed "the illegal mass immigration including family reunification" for "the problems at Austria's schools". He referred to the "nine-point plan" of the FPÖ. This includes, among other things, "the immediate removal of violent students from the class association and in severe cases a suspension". And furthermore: "Whoever cannot speak German cannot go to school with us - these would be efficient steps towards violence prevention," emphasized Brückl.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.