So far this year there have been at least 500 cases of school violence in Medellín

Recently, the Ministry of Education of Medellín reported that so far this year at least 500 cases of school violence have been recorded, including bullying, sexual harassment, cyberbullying, among others.

In order to address this problem that affects students in the 229 official educational institutions, 337 private and 49 covered by the city, the Mayor's Office of Medellín launched the campaign 'Don't touch you'.

With this initiative, the administration intends to provide support to students who are victims of violence in the city's educational institutions. But it also aims to provide sufficient confidence for children and young people to report their aggressors.

It should be noted that this strategy against school violence is being developed in conjunction with the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF), the Office of the Ombudsman, the Office of the Procurator, the Personería and the Police for Children and Adolescents.

Likewise, the municipal administration emphasized that the secretariats of Education; Women; Youth; Social Inclusion, Family and Human Rights and Health are part of the inter-institutional round table that is present in the institutions of Medellín in order to carry out cultural, health, safety and training activities for communities educational.

Route of care in cases of school violence

As explained by the Ministry of Education of Medellín, this route of care for cases of school violence consists of three stages: reporting to the competent authorities, activating the route and carrying out due process.

“We will also keep the identity of the perpetrators. What we are really doing today is reactivating that route”, added the official.

He also recalled that this process must be carried out in the company of the school coexistence committees that are in all educational institutions in Medellín. In addition, he took the opportunity to invite private schools to join this strategy that seeks to implement safe spaces for students throughout the country.

The Secretary of Education of Medellín said that it is necessary for private schools to be linked to this type of initiative because, in many cases, local authorities learn about cases of school violence in these institutions, through the media.

“This is not just for public schools, this is also part of the strategy. Many times we are finding out through the media,” said the official of the Mayor's Office of Medellín.

It should be recalled that this strategy is launched in the midst of a wave of complaints of sexual abuse in different institutions of the national territory, in which students of different ages have decided to protest against this type of event.

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