site.btaEducation Minister: Teachers Confiscate Knives Every Day, Metal Detectors Will Not Be Installed in Every School

Teachers confiscate knives every day, but metal detectors will not be installed in every school, Education and Science Minister Krasimir Valchev said on Wednesday in Ruse.

He noted that a considerable number of students from certain communities go to school with knives every day. "We will support those schools that wish to be helped. Of course, this issue will not be solved only with metal detectors," Valchev stressed, saying that the main function of the education system is, obviously, educational.

"What the education system does most and most strongly is to form attitudes and mindsets in children. In this way, by strengthening its educational function, the education system can help to combat aggression to the greatest extent," he emphasized. He has noted a weakened educational function of the Bulgarian education system in recent years. "We cannot promise that there will be less aggression from tomorrow. Aggression exists in every society, but if we strengthen the educational function, we can have less aggressive youth and fewer such cases," the minister stated.

He noted, however, that teachers are in unequal competition with powerful information media, pointing out the negative effects that violent video games, films, and social media content have on violence and aggression. The issue is prevention and to dose children's presence in such information environments, Valchev said. "They need to watch fewer shows, less content related to violence. This is, however, a more difficult task, a bigger conversation," he noted, adding that addiction to social networks has been increasingly recognized only recently. "It turns out that this is one of the most damaging addictions for young people, because they spend the most time in front of screens. There is even a study that the harmful effect on children's brain is five times greater than through alcoholism," the minister recalled.

A negative attitude towards violence and addictions should be fostered through regular discussions with students, Valchev pointed out. "We have a problem with the fact that teachers are unable to sufficiently establish order in the classroom. That is why, with the law on preschool and school education, we have proposed additional measures regarding students," he said, adding that when a teacher cannot establish order in the classroom, the right to quality education of all other students suffers.