When the school becomes an unsafe environment in which children are subjected to abuse, humiliation and pressure, this does not mean only a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but leaves long-term consequences on their health and further life development, point out the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the National Youth council of Macedonia, the Youth Education Forum and the Union of High School Students of the RSM in a joint reaction after the media published a statement by a high school girl about the events in secondary music school "Ilia Nikolovski Luj".

In the announcement, they state that this re-actualizes the long-standing problem with non-pedagogical, unprofessional and violent behavior of teachers towards students and that the previous practice has shown that the institutions do not act adequately or at all on reports of degrading, discriminatory and negligent behavior of teachers towards students.

- We from the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and the youth organizations - the National Youth Council of Macedonia, the Youth Educational Forum and the Union of High School Students have a common intention not to let this case be forgotten after the media interest dies down, but to approach the issue systematically . We encourage all students to report such experiences and together we can press for an institutional solution to this problem. Due to the numerous problems faced by the educational system, staff who violate basic pedagogical principles and laws in their work undoubtedly contribute to the obvious dysfunctionality of education, poor results and trauma among students. Schools must be a safe environment for their students, they point out in the joint statement.

The Helsinki Committee informs that it is already acting on the reports that arrived immediately after the announcement about the music school.

-After learning that the professors exerted pressure to withdraw the testimonies after the story went public, we encourage the students to report such events as well. NMSM, MOF or SSRSM will help students to get in touch with the free legal aid team of the Helsinki Committee. If you have had a similar experience, contact the legal team at the office at "Naum Naumovski Borče" street 83 in Skopje or at [email protected], +389 (0)2 3119 073 and +389 (0)72 278 436, the announcement states.