Mediation as a form of reconciliation in schools

Prishtina, April 2021- It was the time of the short break, between the lessons, when two peers of Suada Billali, were suddenly started to quarrel. Suada, a seventh-grade student at the elementary school "Rilindja" in the municipality of Podujeva, recalls that the result of that quarrel were a pair of broken glasses and unpleasant moments for the whole class.

“It happened quickly, completely without purpose, but the boy broke the girl's glasses and ended up in the directorate for the latter”, she says. The incident had passed quickly. But, shortly after that, two girls started to quarrel, but no one dared to talk about it. “We decided not to tell anyone, and those girls somehow reconciled,” says Suada, while recounting moments like these, claiming that conflicts between peers often occur even unintentionally or without bad intentions and are not always talked about with teachers.

“They are not very big problems; I do not know how to say it… We often solve problems among ourselves”, she says, emphasizing that they do not always feel comfortable asking for help from the school management.

But this is not a necessity, as concepts such as peer mediation have in many countries resulted in resolving conflicts among peers and thus reduced the prevalence of violence in schools. This concept has recently been expanded to 40 public schools in Kosovo, thanks to the project “Empowering Youth for a Peaceful, Prosperous, and Sustainable Future in Kosovo”, implemented by the Kosovo Education Centre (KEC), the Ministry of Education and Science as well as the support of the UNICEF office in Kosovo. Corporal punishment in Kosovo schools has dropped by around 30 percent in recent years; however, there is room to find better ways of resolving conflicts between peers.

In order to promote peaceful forms of reconciliation, 40 public primary schools in Kosovo have been supported through an application process by the mediation project. The primary school “Rilindja”, attended by the student Suada Billali and her peers, is one of them.

“Initially, as a quality coordinator, I applied on the KEC website to be a beneficiary of this project and after we were selected, me, teacher Elfete Jaha and the five students of the school, held the training”, says the project coordinator at the school “Rilindja”, Dafina Kadriu Musa.

“After we completed the training, we started implementing the project with a grant of 500 Euros for the regulation of the Mediation Corner, which we implemented in a classroom, introducing all the necessary tools”, she further explains.

This Corner, among other things, has been enriched with murals and proverbs by the students of the school. Student Suada points out that this has been a good experience of her commitment for the benefit of her friends.

“I like to help a lot and the room that has been set up is very good for us as young people to talk together about the problems we may have”, she says. “The giraffe at the entrance is a symbol of mediation, and the hands of reconciliation inside the room show that all problems can be solved together”, the 12-year-old explains enthusiastically. Similar rooms have been set up in the other 40 schools benefiting from the project.

The selection of schools has been done in cooperation with the Municipal Directorates of Education, based on the following criteria: 10 schools were from compulsory education (lower secondary schools) and 10 upper secondary schools; schools with children from minority groups; potentially from 2 schools for each municipality, 1 rural, 1 urban; 1 lower secondary, 1 upper secondary) as well as schools which have expressed interest in implementing the project together, through open call.

The UNICEF team in Kosovo talked with representatives of three other schools besides “Rilindja” to see their experiences with the project. The project coordinators in those schools talk about good experiences and benefits, not only for the students, but also for the teachers.

Shqipërojë Shala, project coordinator and teacher at the gymnasium "Aleksandër Xhuvani" in Podujeva, shows how through the mediation project, in addition to new knowledge gained, a functional place has been created for students.

“We have an impression that this project has provided us much more. At the very least, our students now have an address to go to discuss the concerns they have (which are not lacking at this age of adolescence). Also, the Corner and the equipment obtained from this project are being used for other purposes”, says Mrs Shala.

The project “Empowering Youth for a Peaceful, Prosperous, and Sustainable Future in Kosovo”, in addition to strengthening knowledge about the concept of mediation, aimed to develop capacity to implement Regulation No. 21/2013 for Protocol for the Prevention and Reference of Violence in Institutions of Pre-University Education. The "Peer Mediation" training program has managed to help the parties reach functional, non-violent solutions with the direct participation of the parties, transforming the potential conflict into positive and favourable things for them, and schools have managed to create Peer Mediation Teams. The teams consist of school students and teachers.

Within this project, training sessions have also been organized to contribute to the continuous professional development of teachers. This has led to schools having double benefits. “In addition to the students, part of the project are also the teachers as participants in the training sessions, who helped them develop professionally”, says Mrs Supije Zhitija, project coordinator and director of the primary school “Gjergj Fishta” in Prishtina.

As a result of the training sessions but also the voluntary work of students and teachers, awareness of all school actors for peaceful mediation and without punishment has been achieved. “The changes are more conceptual-philosophical, and it takes time to see the desired fruits”, she said, noting, however, that the COVID-19 pandemic, that made physical activities impossible, was also a challenge in implementation.

In the framework of empowering students and teachers to practice mediation as an alternative method of conflict resolution, in addition to training, support grants to create mediation rooms, schools are also equipped with laptops.

Petrit Tahiri, Project Manager from KEC: The program “Peer Mediation” promotes a comprehensive approach and contributes to the achievement of the learning outcome for thinking competence, i.e. problem solving. Furthermore, the program helps to develop cooperation between students, raises awareness to deal with current problems rather than avoid them, and enables students to contribute directly to non-violent conflict resolution and prevention of school violence.

Afrim Ibrahimi, Child Protection Officer (The project “Empowering Youth for a Peaceful, Prosperous, and Sustainable Future in Kosovo” supported by the UNICEF Office in Kosovo and implemented by KEC, is a substantial contribution to the prevention of violence in schools and the peaceful resolution of conflicts between peers. This is illustrated by the success stories told by the actors of this experience, students and teachers of schools benefiting from this project.)

Quality education remains one of the key priorities of the UNICEF office in Kosovo.