Throughout his junior year, a boy in Lund municipality was bullied. He was subjected to derogatory comments and felt ostracized. For example, his schoolmates have hooked him in the corridor.
The School Inspectorate’s child and student representative (Beo) has concluded that the school failed in its obligation to investigate the perceived violations promptly and to a sufficient extent. The municipality must therefore pay 60,000 in damages to the boy for violation and another 30,000 for burning and pain.
Sega with investigation
According to the investigation, the school must have become aware of the situation in 2021 and again in the spring of 2023. But it took until the spring of 2024 before the school did a thorough investigation of the information. Once implemented, it was not sufficient.
– Against the background of information about vulnerability that has become known on an ongoing basis, a more comprehensive approach to the student’s school situation should have been taken. They should have done a more comprehensive and thorough investigation than what happened, she says, says Erica Segerlund, lawyer at the Child and Student Ombudsman for Sydsvenskan.
In addition to the claim for damages, Beo instructs the municipality to ensure that staff in the future report information about abusive treatment to the principal and that the circumstances must then be investigated quickly and to a sufficient extent.
Don’t want to comment
The municipality’s acting director of schools, André Levin, writes in an email to Sydsvenskan that he is not in a position to say how the municipality views the claim for damages.
“We will now go through the decision to state our attitude to the Child and Student Ombudsman by January 10, 2025 at the latest. At the moment, we are not in a position to comment on the case more than that,” he writes.