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LUNDSBERGS HAZING SCANDAL

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Principal sacked at elite Swedish boarding school

The principal of the elite Swedish boarding school Lundsbergs was sacked on Wednesday night and school's entire board resigned in the latest fallout following a hazing scandal in which two students were burned with irons at the weekend.

Published: 29 August 2013 08:27 CEST
Principal sacked at elite Swedish boarding school

The developments took place following a crisis meeting by the Lundsbergs school board in the wake of a decision by the Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen) to close the school temporarily.

“The ultimate responsibility rests with the operational leadership, which is headed by the principal. It’s come to light that school administrators sanction some form of hazing that is strictly prohibited according to our rules. We’ve decided to relieve the principal of his duties immediately,” Ulf Rehnmark, a member of the school’s board, told the TT news agency.

The Schools Inspectorate’s report detailed a hazing ritual referred to as “the submarine” (‘ubåten’) that took place with the consent of the school leadership.

The ritual involves a student lying on his or her back and having water poured through a pipe inserted into his or her mouth.

According to Rehnmark, the decision to sack Staffan Hörnberg, who has served as principal at Lundbergs for ten years, was unanimous and that the board felt it had no choice to resign following a “failure” to prevent students from being injured.

“There was really no realistic alternative. We haven’t been able to look through and understand why the measures we took weren’t sufficient,” he said.

A new board is expected to be in place within two weeks. However, the removal of the principal and the board won’t affect the Schools Inspectorate decision to close the school for up to six months in what was labeled a possible “first step” toward shuttering the school for good.

Earlier in the day and prior to his sacking, Hörnberg criticized the agency’s decision.

“It was no bloody picnic hearing students running around and screaming and crying like there had been a car wreck,” he told TT.

“It’s almost like collective punishment. Here we have maybe 199 students who are totally innocent and who are quite chummy and love their school.”

Education Minister Jan Björklund said the situation at Lundsbergs was “very upsetting”, but that the government would refrain from commenting on the decision to close the school.

“No one should be afraid to go to school,” he told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s tumult at the school follows reports that two boys, aged 14 and 15, were burned with an iron in an initiation ritual. Nine students are suspected for their involvement in the assault and were asked to leave the school on Tuesday.

The school, which is the alma mater of Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip and many other members of Swedish high-society, has been hit with a series of reports of students being assaulted in hazing rituals.

In May last year, students at the school spoke out after being forced into oral sex and eating manure. Speaking with Svergies Television (SVT), a former vice principal described the situation at Lundsbergs as something out of Lord of the Flies.

In 2011, a student had their nipples burned with an electric fly swatter. .

Founded in 1896, Lundsbergs was inspired by British boarding school tradition and currently has an enrollment of around 200 students, around 60 percent of which are boys.

TT/The Local/dl

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Danish U-turn: children with sick relatives should stay home

Children who live with someone ill with coronavirus-like symptoms should not attend kindergarten or school, Denmark's health minister has announced, responding to widespread concern surrounding the reopening of the country's schools.

Published: 14 April 2020 09:32 CEST
Danish U-turn: children with sick relatives should stay home
Parents have been worried about the reopening. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix
Magnus Heunicke announced the new policy in a press release sent out on Sunday, following widespread criticism of the guidance from the Danish Health Authority (Sundhetsstyrelsen) that having sick relatives at home should not prevent children returning when schools reopen this week. 
 

“Many have been unsure whether the right measures have been taken when schools and daycare services open up again on Wednesday,” Heunicke said in the press release. 
 
“In particular there have been questions over whether children should attend kindergarten or school if someone is infected with Covid-19 at home. This uncertainty is now being taken away by the government.” 
 
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Municipal governments in Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense, among others, had already responded to public unease about children bringing the infection from home by saying they would defy the health authority and allow the families of children who have sick people at home to keep them home. 
 
 

The Danish government's decision to overrule its own health authority sees the country's policy diverge from that of neighbouring Sweden, where the advice to parents is that children should be sent to school even if someone at home is ill. 
 
Heunicke said that the decision had followed a reappraisal of how likely it is that children will be able to follow hygiene requirements. 
 
“There are a number of strict requirements for cleaning, hygiene and self-insulation when there is a coronavirus infection at home. This can be really difficult for families with smaller children, and we understand that there are many who are unsure about this situation,” he said.  
 
“Therefore, in the government, we have decided, on a precautionary principle, that children living in a household with a person who has coronavirus should not attend school or daycare.” 
 
This decision applies only to children, and not to adult staff who work in schools or kindergartens, as the ministry believes adult staff will be better able to follow sanitary guidelines.  
 
According to a survey by Local Government Denmark, which represents the country's municipalities, over half of Denmark's municipalities plan to reopen schools and kindergartens on Wednesday, with the rest following no later than Monday. 
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