MODS announcement
  

Network of Organizations for Children of Serbia - MODS expresses deep concern and regret for two accidents that have occurred over the past month when students were injured in the playgrounds of schoolyards in Belgrade and Knjazevac.

The last accident happened in the schoolyard in Knjazevac and had a tragic outcome. Schools and schoolyards should unconditionally be safe places for children and it is inadmissible for our society and community that children are injured while playing. Unfortunately, it seems that that we are always late and that we react only in case of an accident with a tragic outcome.

Therefore, we are calling on the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development to send request to school principals in Serbia to check safety of schoolyards and inform the Ministry in writing.

We remind that there are School Committees, Parents Boards and Students’ Safety and Protection from Violence Teams which reach decisions referring to safety of children in schools. These bodies need to work actively in accordance with the competences stipulated by the law and seriously to deal with the issues related to life of children in school.

The safety of children is not only in the jurisdiction of schools and local self-governments which need to take responsibility for the regularity of equipment, devices and props in schoolyards, regardless of whether certain incidents occur during or after the school working time. The responsibility of local communities cannot be annulled and they need to take all suitable preventive safety measures.

Network of Organizations for Children of Serbia expect fast and urgent reaction meaning that they are not going to rely on volunteering of school principals to check or do something, and that the existing law and bylaws shall be consistently implemented and that the problem will be tackled systematically, responsibly and as a prevention – that no child will ever get injured in a schoolyard.