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RAPE

School head on rape claim: ‘boys will be boys’

A high school in Täby in northern Stockholm has been reported to the Equality Ombudsman over allegations that the principal played down rape allegations as "stuff that boys do".

Published: 14 November 2011 13:54 CET

After having been encouraged by a classmate, a female student went to the principal of the high school to report that she had been raped by another male student in February and March 2011.

The student reported the school to the Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen), which has now forwarded the complaint to the Equality Ombudsmannen (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen – DO).

According to the complaint filed with the Schools Inspectorate, the student was told by the principal:

“You file a police report if you want, although this is not a prioritized case as no serious crime has been committed.”

The principal then told the student, who was accompanied by another member of staff at the time:

“Guys do this kind of thing, you have to get used to it.”

According to the report, when the girl’s mother called the principal to discuss her comments, the principal told her that her daughter “should concentrate on her studies” and “to stop focusing on these trivialities”.

The girl eventually stopped attending school as she felt she had not received support from the teachers or the principal despite having filed a police report alleging rape and attempted rape in March 2011.

The girl alleges that from that time until the break for the summer holidays, she was subjected to periodical harassment from fellow students and some individual teachers at the school.

The girl has now changed to another school in the county.

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SCHOOL

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school

In the southern state of Bavaria, schools have been promised 100 million self-tests starting next week so that more children can start being taught in person again. But teachers say the test strategy isn't being implemented properly.

Published: 12 March 2021 17:12 CET
Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school
Children in the classroom in Bavaria. Photo:Matthias Balk/DPA

State leaders Markus Söder said on Friday that the first 11 million of the DIY tests had already arrived and would now be distributed through the state.

“It’s no good in the long run if the testing for the school is outside the school,” Söder told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) during a visit to a school in Nuremberg.

“Contrary to what has been planned in Berlin, we’ve pre-ordered in Bavaria: for this year we have 100 million tests.”

Bavaria, Germany’s largest state in terms of size, plans to bring all children back into schools starting on Monday.

SEE ALSO: ‘The right thing to do’ – How Germany is reopening its schools

However, high coronavirus case rates mean that these plans have had to be shelved in several regions.

In Nuremberg, the state’s second largest city, primary school children have been sent back into distance learning after just a week back in the classroom.

The city announced on Friday that schools would have to close again after the 7-day incidence rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nearby city of Fürth closed its schools after just two days of classroom time on Wednesday, after the 7-day incidence rose to 135.

The Bavarian test strategy plans for school children to receive one test per week, while teachers have the possibility of taking two tests a week. The testing is not compulsory.

But teachers’ unions in the southern state have warned that the test capacity only exists on paper and have expressed concern that their members will become infected in the workplace.

“Our teachers are afraid of infection,” Almut Wahl, headmistress of a secondary school in Munich, told BR24.

“Officially they are allowed to be tested twice a week, we have already received a letter about this. But the tests are not there.”

BR24 reports that, contrary to promises made by the state government, teachers in many schools have still not been vaccinated, ventilation systems have not been installed in classrooms, and the test infrastructure has not been put in place.

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