Violence in schools remains a worrying phenomenon in the country. From stabbings to the most serious act that of taking life have been reported recently. The presence of a psychologist in educational institutions is considered to have an impact on reducing these cases. Parents think that psychologists are necessary, whereas municipalities say that, in the absence of funds, they have few engaged psychologists.

The Chairman of the Parents' Council in Prishtina, Jeton Demi, told KosovaPress, that after the pandemic, the number of students who have shown elements of violence has increased. "Especially after the outbreak of the pandemic, for two years now, the presence of a psychologist in school is a necessity. The number of students who show elements of violence or disorder in terms of maintaining discipline in schools has increased, as well as the number of reports during this period. Therefore, to be able to treat them in time, and to be able to prevent and not further expand the occurrence of these disorders that may be momentary or long-term, the presence of psychologists in schools is a necessity, which we have constantly requested", said Demi. Demi stated that even those schools that have psychologists, they do not have a full-time job, whereas he is against that someone who is engaged in other work at school, also play the role of psychologist. "We have asked for psychologists to be in schools every day. We are not informed that in any school, there are full-time psychologists in schools, and that has the sole task of preserving, caring for, maintaining the mental health of children, and addressing issues, the problem that arises within schools... When there are cases when someone performs the task of psychologist, he also has other administrative tasks; it makes it difficult for him to realize in time all the requests that he may have within the school. So, there is an obvious shortage, and we do not have any school with the full presence of a psychologist", said Demi. The municipality of Fushe Kosovo, which in recent years has an increase in the number of students, currently has only two psychologists engaged, and through external projects. The Director of Education in this municipality, Samir Shahini, said that they also have a shortage of teachers, so they are forced to sacrifice psychologists for teachers. "We as a municipality have a shortage of psychologists, initially we have a small number of teachers allowed in the payroll, which makes it impossible for us, and forces us to sacrifice professional associates such as psychologists and pedagogues in our schools. Currently we have only two psychologists in two schools in the urban area of the city who are engaged in external projects, so they are not employees of our municipality", said Shahini. The Psychologist Mirjeta Pestisha, told KosovaPress that all the negative phenomena that occur today in schools can have their source in the absence of a psychologist and the fact that mental health care remains taboo. "Every day we hear cases where something negative has happened inside a school, or school students who have shown negative and inappropriate behavior outside the school yard. It is something very disturbing when we stop and think about addressing, why these are happening, then it is a very big question because we still have the taboo of the psychologist", said Pestisha. Pestisha also says that the number of psychologists that a school should have should be in proportion to the number of students in that school. "Regarding the number of psychologists, there is still nothing definite about how many psychologists there should be within a school. This should really go in proportion to the students in the school, which means the more students there are within the school; there should be even more than one psychologist. Whereas, in schools that have fewer students, then only one psychologist is enough", said Pestisha. Until the issue of the school psychologist is regulated, the Prishtina Parents' Council requires at least the security bodies to be more present around educational institutions in order to prevent cases of violence. "We call on the security authorities to take very seriously and to give full priority to the safety of children in schools, and not to prioritize the issue of traffic but the life and health of our children. This is because we see more cases of convictions and the presence of police officers on the streets for violating traffic rules, than when we have cases of loss of lives of children, which is unfortunate", said Demi. Weeks ago a 14-year-old student lost his life as a result of a stabbing, whereas, this week in Gjakova another student received stab wounds. The police continuously reports on the reaction near the schools, while there have been cases when they have confiscated weapons inside educational institutions.