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SCHOOL

School to bullied lesbian teen: don’t be so gay

A school in southern Sweden told a female student to "tone down" her homosexuality as a remedy to bullying from other students for being gay, prompting the girl to report the school for discrimination.

The victim’s report, which has filed with the Swedish Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, DO), explains how the teen had to quit her studies at the Munkgård high school after severely mistreatment from other students.

Teachers at the school were unhelpful when she raised the matter with them, telling the girl to “tone down” her sexuality as other students were “confused and scared” by it.

According to the girl’s report, the incidents began when she was assaulted in 2010 by a fellow student who had hit her in the head, causing a minor head fracture.

“She threatened to shove pliers into my eyes and then she took hold of the pliers and delivered three hefty hits against my temples and the area close to my eyes,” the girl wrote in the report.

When she later consulted the school about the incident, teachers told her it was all her own fault.

According to the report, the school told her:

“You’re the one to blame. It was your own fault. You provoked her,” adding that she should have “just hit back.”

After online research, the girl discovered that the school must report any mistreatment that occurs during school hours, and confronted the school, only to be told that it was up to her to make a report.

The case is now being handled by the DO, but before any compensation decisions are made, the school will be given the chance to comment, according to DO case officer Sara Stenberg.

“We have made a request for the principal of the school to comment on the case. This is standard procedure. They have until July 6th to make a comment,” she told The Local.

Salomon Rogberg

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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.

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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