The Minister of Education agrees to “listen and study the proposal” of the parent, which brings 230,000 signatures to the Congress of Deputies
Jose Manuel Lopezthe father of Kira López, a girl who committed suicide at the age of 15 in May 2021 due to bullying, has asked that ‘bullying’ be considered a crime. She has also demanded that the authorities properly account for all the boys and girls who have to change schools to escape their executioners so that this type of data forms part of the official statistics.
The Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Pilar Alegría, has assured that she will listen to and study López’s proposal. “We do not rule out anything,” the minister concluded during her visit to the Miguel Catalán institute.
In the face of bullying, act.
Young people, boys and girls, have to go to class as a safe environment in which to learn and be happy.
In the #DayAgainstSchoolBullying We ask for everyone’s involvement. Of the whole society.#ActAgainstHarassment pic.twitter.com/HxxVfiNtLB
– Pilar Joy (@Pilar_Alegria) November 3, 2022
Aware that each center deals with -or gets rid of- cases of harassment, Kira’s father has delivered this Thursday in the Congress of Deputies more than 230,000 signatures collected on Change.org to demand a national protocol against bullying.
“It is a more serious problem than it seems,” López warned., which has encouraged political parties and the government to take seriously the harassment, humiliation, beatings and cyberbullying of which many students are victims. “Doesn’t any ruler care about this?” she has wondered.
Accompanied by his wife and carrying a large photo of his daughter, López has recriminated that until now the authorities only dedicate “small change” to combat ‘bullying’ and he has been convinced that with this initiative he will be able to help save more than one life because it puts parents “on alert”. Something that he has considered very important because, at present, it does not exist and, nevertheless, it is to offer very high security to minors so that they do not go to school in fear. “For a child to perform, he has to feel safe and motivated,” he added.
He has also demanded that teachers be trained already at the university so that they know how to teach children to manage their emotions and those of others, and that measures be taken to detect suicidal ideas in educational centers because “it is not normal for a child at 10 years old or my daughter, at 15, decide that life is not worth living”.
Along with this, he has asked that if parents warn the teacher or the school that their children are being mistreated or harassed, and the problem persists, there should be a legal consequence, and that “the educational inspection be put to really inspecting, that is not decorative and that is never in collusion with any center
“With Kira we did not act on time and for this reason we ask that in all schools guarantee the urgent activation of psychological care in the face of clear suspicions of abuse and immediate intervention if detected suicide risk of the victim”, he pointed out. “Every minute without taking action is a minute where a boy or a girl may be suffering and be in danger”, he points out in the text of his petition.
López started the campaign on change.org one year after Kira’s suicide. “Today marks a year of the worst day of my life. On May 19, 2021 our only daughter Kira, who was only 15 years old, committed suicide. The night before she hugged me and told me that she loved me very much and that she was the best daddy of the world. That was his way of saying goodbye… Now I know,” he recalled.