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Teen intent on suing Austria for bullying

A hearing has taken place into the case of a teenager from Vorarlberg who intends to sue the Austrian government for €21,000 because he was bullied at school and claims that his teachers failed to put a stop to it.

Published: 19 January 2015 11:23 CET
Teen intent on suing Austria for bullying
File photo: APA

The 16-year old told the Regional Court of Feldkirch that his classmates at a state grammar school in Bregenz bullied him on a daily basis, ridiculing him in class, spitting at him and throwing ink-soaked paper balls at him. When he changed classes the bullies continued to shout at him every time he passed them.

He said that two of the ringleaders had choked a friend of his, and that he was so afraid of them that he refused to go on a school skiing trip.

To try and defuse the situation, the school organized two workshops with school psychologists, but the 16-year-old said that this didn’t cause any lasting improvement.

The teenager left the school last year and has since been attending a technical school, where he said he gets on with his classmates and is getting good marks.

The school maintains that it took the case seriously and was concerned for the 16-year-old’s welfare.

The teenager’s parents said that they spoke to the school principal in October and tried to intervene on numerous occasions but that little was done to stop the bullying – other than switching their son to a different class.  

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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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