Ana Ivanovic Participates in Inclusion of 15 Additional Schools Into "School without Violence" Programme
Belgrade, 4 February 2010 - Today at the Ceremonial Hall of the Novi Beograd Municipal Assembly 15 more Belgrade schools have become a part of the “School without Violence” programme, thus joining the family of 187 elementary and 9 secondary schools in Serbia in which the program is already under way. By the today’s “adoption”, the Belgrade City Administration – Secretariat for Education has enabled the implementation of the program in the total of 28 schools in Belgrade and the participation of 20,500 students and over 2,000 school staff. In addition to the financial aid, the Secretariat for Education provides professional and administrative support in monitoring of the programme implementation. The citizens of Belgrade and “Infostan”, through donations attached to the “Infostan” payment slips in the last three months, have helped recruit yet one more Belgrade school. The collected funds were also used for printing 26,000 manuals for parents that will equip them with additional knowledge on the issue of violence and help them join the program together with their children. “Since they have been involved in the programme children are less tolerant toward violence, they are less silent about it and they are more often reporting cases of violence and asking for help from their teachers in cases of violence. Local communities are playing an important role in creation of the protective environment for children and more importantly in the continuous prevention of violence in our common objective to create non-violence and interventions against violence as one of goals and values of our children and all of us,” stated Jelena Zajeganovic Jakovljevic, UNICEF’s Project Officer for Adolescents.
The following schools are joining the “School without Violence” programme today: „Duško Radović”, „Borislav Pekić“, „Kralj Aleksandar I“, and „Nadežda Petrović“ on the territory of Novi Beograd; „Vožd Karađorđe“ in Jakovo, „Ivan Milutinović“, „Vojvoda Mišić“ and „Stefan Nemanja“ in the municipality of Savski Venac, „ Nikola Tesla“ in Vinča, „Sutjeska“ and „ Svetislav Golubović Mitraljeta“ in Zemun, „ Ilija Birčanin“ in Zemun Polje, „Boško Palkovljević Pinki“ in Batajnica and schools „Kralj Petar II Karađorđević“ and „Dušan Dugalić” in the municipality of Vračar. Ana Ivanovic, the UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, joined the agreement signing ceremony with these schools. As a promoter of the ”School without Violence” programme she offered her support once again to those who have already embarked on the programme agenda to oppose violence against and among schoolchildren and to invite all others to join in. „Since I grew up in Novi Beograd, I am very glad about this initiative in my municipality. I would sincerely want the programme to spread to other Belgrade municipalities and to each and every school in Serbia, and to leave no school out from the fight against violence. Changes are possible…. Of course only if there is good collaboration. I know it because there are many examples of changes for the better at the ‘Milan Rakic’ school in Medosevac that, as they say, I ‘adopted’”, said Ana Ivanovic. The contribution of the City Assembly – Secretariat for Education and “Infostan” is of crucial importance for more comprehensive resolution of the issue of violence and its prevention. Spreading of the programme increases sensitivity of children that acquire more knowledge and develop skills to respond in a non-violent manner, meaning that at a certain age absence of violence will not be only a feature of the school, but a feature of a park, playground, and a whole local community. This is the way for the municipalities to embark on the way to becoming child friendly municipalities. Prevention of violence and building safe environment for children is not a duty for the community only, but for every individual where close collaboration among them guarantees for success of the “School without Violence” program. The “School without Violence” program was launched in 2005 and is currently implemented in 187 elementary and 9 secondary schools in Serbia, out of which 73 elementary schools are in Belgrade. It is implemented with the support of UNICEF, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Interior Affairs, Institute for Promotion of Education, Council for the Rights of the Child of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and City Administration of the City of Belgrade – Secretariat for Education. ********* For all additional information, please contact
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