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A boy of the same age at school harassed and abused seven-year-old Lova so much that she developed anxiety. The parents contacted the school several times and reported it to the police.
But nothing changed.
– I feel such anger that we had to deal with it. That my daughter was forced to change schools and the boy had to stay, says Lova’s mother Lina.
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A boy the same age at school turned seven-year-old Lova’s life into hell. What was supposed to be an exciting first year at school turned into a nightmare instead.
– Once he followed my daughter to the toilet and said he was going to kill her. Another time he pushed her off a swing. She lost her breath when she fell, says Lina.
Lina and her husband Niklas receive Aftonbladet in their cozy villa on the edge of Staffanstorp. The villa is decorated in bright colors and there are candles burning in both the living room and kitchen.
But the family’s life has been anything but bright in recent years.
Lina tells us that her seven-year-old daughter Lova during the fall of 2022 was harassed of boy at school. There were pushes, kicks and threats. The daughter became increasingly afraid to go to school and developed anxiety.
– There were many sleepless nights. She couldn’t sleep and wanted to be near us at night.
Lina contacted the school already after a couple of weeks, but she felt that the school management did not take it seriously. Instead, the attacks on her daughter continued. Sometimes it was a few weeks between the attacks. Sometimes just days.
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fullscreenLina’s daughter was abused at school. Photo: Krister Hansson
As SVT Skåne has previously reported, the school made five incident reports. In one of them, it is described how Lova drank water in the toilet and suddenly got a sore throat and started coughing. Then she was hit and pushed by the boy.
To see how the daughter was doing at school, Lina was with her for an entire school day. She was stunned by what she saw.
– I saw how the boy ran wild that day. He knelt another boy right in front of me. There simply weren’t the resources to care for the boy in the way he needed.
In desperation, Lina also made several police reports about assault. The first time she felt compelled to report was in October when Lova had been pushed and then hit in the back.
A month later it was time again – then Lova came home from school and had been beaten and kicked.
– When I called the police, the officer who received the report started crying. She was so touched, says Lina and continues:
– If it had been an adult who had been abused and threatened with death in that way, it would have been dealt with. Now they only referred to social services.
Lova was finally terrified to go to school and had severe anxiety. The anxiety expressed itself in severe headaches, stomachaches and nausea.
– She could also complain that she had a stomach ache. At first I thought it was normal vomiting.
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full screen Recent times have been tough for Lina and Niklas. Photo: Krister Hansson
Lina put her daughter to bed and made sure she had a bucket by the bed. If the vomiting were to come quickly. But it wasn’t a temporary bout of vomiting.
Anxiety had clawed at her. When the Christmas break came after the first term, Lova no longer wanted to go out.
– In the end, she just lay with the bucket next to her.
At this point, Lina and her husband Niklas were very frustrated that a boy had to ruin their daughter’s life.
In January 2023, the parents had enough and made a report to the School Inspectorate and the Child and Student Ombudsman, Beo. Niklas also went to school and demanded that his daughter get a place at another school. It worked and the very next day Lova had to start a new school.
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full screenLova was too terrified to go to school and had severe anxiety. The anxiety expressed itself in severe headaches, stomachaches and nausea. Photo: Krister Hansson
“The brain that deceives her”
But the problems were not blown away. Because Lova was exposed to a lot of fear and stress for a long time, some of the anxiety remained. Today, Lova struggles to live an ordinary life.
The family has received good help through a program called “Cool kids” in child and youth psychiatry. There, they have received the recommendation to try to live as usual. Although Lova sometimes has panic attacks in various social situations.
– We have learned that we must continue to expose her to things that can cause anxiety. Because it is the brain that deceives her that different things are dangerous.
In its investigation of the events, Beo states that the municipality of Staffanstorp, as the principal, has “failed in its obligation to adequately investigate the information about abusive treatment and in turn report these”.
On the other hand, the Child and Student Ombudsman believes that because the student has left the school, and that the school has drawn attention to the identified deficiencies and taken measures for them, there is no reason to claim damages.
– It is not wise. Just because we arranged a new school ourselves, they shut it down, says Lina.
Daughter Lova is actually called something else.
FACTS Ann Edvik, deputy director of education at Staffanstorp municipality, about the criticism:
Where is your picture of the situation?
– It is never acceptable for students to be subjected to violations. At the same time, conflicts arise in all contexts where people live, at workplaces, in families and at school, and these are handled differently depending on, among other things, age and ability to self-regulate. In this case, it is about seven-year-olds and the staff has worked to prevent conflicts and violations and handle the situations that have arisen.
What do you think of Beo’s criticism?
– The children’s and student representative’s criticism directed at the fact that there were some perceived violations that the staff had not reported on to the principal. On the other hand, Beo directed no criticism at how the staff had handled the conflicts and violations themselves, nor was any criticism directed at the principal or principal.
The parents finally felt that the only way out was to change schools, how do you see that? Could you have acted differently to prevent this?
– Like all school staff in Sweden, we work to ensure that the children enjoy and feel good at school. Parents are free to change schools, but it does not feel good when the reason is that the child does not like or feel well.
In hindsight, should you have acted differently in any way?
– I would have liked to always have the facts in hand when decisions have to be made, it would have been better decisions, but that is not the reality. When violations occur, the school acts based on a ladder of measures. In this type of case, situations often take place over a longer period of time and the efforts that are put in place become increasingly invasive to make the violations stop. Since it took time before the measures put in place had an effect, we are self-critical.
How is the situation at school today? Have there been any concrete changes since this occurred?
– In general, it is calm at school. Many efforts were made around the class and it is significantly safer in the class now than it was a year ago.
– The school has also dealt with and remedied the shortcomings that Beo pointed out.
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