Filenews 29 December 2021 - by Evangelia Sizopoulou
The Ministry of Education proceeded with the implementation of its announcement for the night guarding of primary schools, following the recent incidents of vandalism that occurred in a number of units. Specifically, a few days ago, in a letter, the General Director of the Ministry, called on school ephorates to proceed with a call for tenders or the use of an existing contract for the purchase of static night guarding services for primary schools, which are recorded in a specific list.
As the ministry informs, the main task of the service is the perimeter and internal guarding of school units during the evening hours, with the aim of preventing vandalism, delinquency, malicious acts, thefts, etc.
The School Ephorates, which received the instructions of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Education, also state that this service must meet the following conditions:
» Not to exceed 50 hours per week per school unit for December 2021.
» Not to exceed 35 hours per week per school unit for January 2022.
» The maximum amount of remuneration should be €7 including VAT, with the minimum being that provided by the legislation on guard services per hour.
In fact, the School Ephorates were given until December 17th to apply to the Office of Civil Defence, Security and Health of the Ministry of Education for the relevant sponsorship.
It is worth noting that the decision to guard elementary schools at night arose immediately after the atrocities and vandalism that occurred a few weeks ago in elementary schools, with the most serious ones being recorded in Zakaki and Deftera. It is recalled that in the first case explosive devices were placed inside the school unit while in the second case a malicious fire was set in a room. In both cases, as well as in other schools where vandalism has taken place, slogans were listed against the new measures that were also applied in Primary Education, in the context of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the night guarding of school units was one of the demands of the OMC, which lobbied for its implementation.
It is recalled that in the aftermath of those incidents in schools, a wide-ranging meeting was held with the participation of the Ministers of Education and Justice, the leadership of the Police and the leadership of the OMC, in the context of which specific decisions were taken, including the increase of police patrols in schools during the evening hours as well as the night guarding of school units.
Moreover, in addition to the vandalism that occurred in schools and the need to guard them, the Ministry of Education is reintroducing the issue of the purchase of services for the provision of security services in public schools of pre-primary and primary education, as for years it has been difficult to find guards for their safekeeping. These are decisions of the Council of Ministers dating from 2018 and 2019, under the minister Kostas Champiaouris and which were not managed to be implemented by the School Ephorates.
Regarding these services, it is clarified that they concern the guarding of school units from 07:00 a.m. until 08:00a.m. and from 13:00 to 14:00 during their opening days.
