The member organization of the Kosovo Women’s Network, NGO Jeta, on November 18 in Gllogjan of Deçan, held a lecture with students of the school “Heroes of Dukagjini”, on the topic of gender-based violence and ways to fight it.

During this lecture, they were informed in detail about identifying forms of psychological, physical, sexual and economic violence. The students also discussed sexual harassment and the laws that punish it and gender-based violence.

Fatjona Karakushi, a psychologist and trainer, emphasized that lecturing on these topics with primary school students is very important.

“This is a very sensitive topic, and at the same time difficult to accept. Through lectures, students can become aware of not accepting violence, reacting, defending themselves, being informed about the institutions that come to their aid and being able to help someone else who is experiencing violence,” she said.

Lumnije Lusha, Director of this school added that such lectures should be held in every school.

“The more  knowledge and reflection we have onthe situation,, the better the reporting of gender-based violence in the relevant institutions will be. Such topics should be discussed constantly and should definitely be discussed with students in primary schools as well. At a young age, everyone should be familiar with forms of gender-based violence,” she added.

Furthermore, the students were extremely interested in psychological violence, its forms, and how it can be addressed and prevented. They also raised questions about bullying in schools, as one of the most common forms of psychological violence amongst this age group.

According to them, it is very important to learn how to manage such situations and above all to be able to prevent them.

Such lectures will be held in 10 other primary schools in the villages of the Municipality of Deçan, thanks to the support that the initiative “Empowerment of women and youth for the prevention of gender-based violence in accordance with the Istanbul Convention”, received from the round of 15 of the Kosovo Women’s Fund, funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and co-financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), through the Swedish Embassy in Pristina.