November 2018
SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE SEMINARS
HELD IN SIX PRIMARY PARTNER SCHOOLS OF CENTRAL BOSNIA CANTON
From November 11 to 30, 2018, six additional seminars on "Sociology of Gender and Gender-Based Violence" (PGBV) were organized in six primary partner schools on this project in Central Bosnia Canton. Teachers who participated in the seminars were from the following schools: OŠ "Ivan Goran Kovačić" Fojnica, OŠ "Nova Bila", OŠ "Busovača", OŠ "Bila", OŠ "Travnik", and OŠ "Uskoplje". Šejla Džanan and Snježana Petraš, pedagogues and psychologists and TPO Foundation's associates, were leading the seminars. The primary goal of those seminars was education in the area of gender sociology and violence, which is missing in the schools, especially for primary school teachers. The results showed a lack of information on the topics related to gender, while most teachers admitted there are some types of gender-based violence in school or children's families.
Through various participatory exercises, participants had an opportunity to learn but also to share their own experience in dealing with different types of violence and resolving the issues through school protocols together with school administration and students' parents. The teachers concluded that communication is the most important segment in resolving violent behavior and reducing all forms of violence in school communities. Even though there are given protocols for resolving violence in school given by the Ministry of Education of Central Bosnia Canton, the internal organization and relations between parents, school and children are more important because healthier relations lead to children's brighter future.