Eva Hajdërasi, a security officer at the “Jordan Misja” Art School in Tirana, emphasized in an interview with the Albanian Telegraphic Agency that incidents of conflict at this school are sporadic and mostly rooted in bullying.

Hajdërasi says that the role of a security officer in schools is to monitor and report on situations, emphasizing that they are not meant to act as “police officers.” Instead, their focus should be on collaborating to foster a peaceful environment that guarantees the smooth running of classes for the students.

“Our role consists in ensuring safety in schools, particularly when it comes to keeping a watch, monitoring, and reporting conflict cases between students. We should keep a watch on a 50-meter radius, which includes the school area and the surrounding communities.”

“Our responsibilities consist in observing the situation and then reporting cases. We are not here as ‘police’ in the school, but rather as collaborators, working to guarantee a peaceful environment for students to ensure the smooth running of their classes,” she said in an interview with ATA.

“There are and will always be issues, but they are sporadic, especially because it is an art school. The students are very open, and if they have a problem, they express it freely. We have made efforts to address these cases within the school, always with the parents’ knowledge,” she said.

But how are conflicts between students addressed?

“First, we identify the situation through the students. Once the problematic situation is identified, we report it to the school management level and speak with the head teacher. The head teacher then informs the parents. At the end of the school day, we wait for the parent to arrive, hold a meeting, and if the cases are not very problematic, we try to resolve them within the school, with the parents’ agreement, without using other resorts. This is done in partnership with the parents, who are very cooperative, as are the teachers,” said Hajdërasi.

According to her, the success of the work lies in collaboration, specifically with the colleagues from the psycho-social service, the psychologist, and the social worker, as well as with the school principal and all the actors within the educational institution.

“Our work is cooperation-based. If the approach involves blaming either the staff or the students, then our work is essentially done. Through our continuous presence in the classrooms and the supportive environment we’ve fostered in the psycho-social service office, we’ve helped students feel more cooperative and open, encouraging them to come forward and report any issues arising in the classroom or school,” she explained.

“Certainly, there is room for improvement. We often receive training and have provided our feedback. The community policing specialist is very cooperative, as are the parents. A meeting was held with the parents, and we were asked to ensure that every police officer has a detector to check students for bladed objects or anything more dangerous,” said Hajdërasi.

Has the security package improved the situation?

“It has improved a lot because our approach is professional. We are not here to point finger of blame, but to ensure the child’s safety in a situation where they may be distressed, either psychologically, emotionally, or even when physically threatened,” said Hajdërasi.

/sm/