The attack on a teacher at the Romanazzi High School in Bari is further proof of how schools have become dangerous places for teachers.
According to an initial reconstruction of the facts, a student took another classmate's toy gun and shot Professor Pasquale Pellicani in the chest. The teacher suffered a slight burning sensation, but due to the fright he felt unwell.
Gianni Verga, the general secretary of Uil Scuola Puglia, condemned the incident in a statement, calling it "yet another example of how the daily lives of teachers and, more generally, school workers have become a frontier experience."
"For years now," Verga wrote, "the school system and its workers have been delegitimized, leaving them at the mercy of the waves and without any safety measures, particularly in Southern Italy.
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The union calls on "all institutions, at every level, to value education as an indispensable tool for a region striving for growth and development, aiming to create a competent future leadership class, respecting the fundamental rules of civility."
"Entering school with a gun, of any kind, is a phenomenon that goes beyond the harsher conduct grade," Verga added. "It's a social problem that must be addressed with greater resources and decisive measures."
The Bari incident is just the latest in a series of attacks on teachers in recent months. In June, a teacher at an elementary school in Rome was attacked by a 10-year-old student, who punched him in the face. In July, a teacher at a middle school in Naples was threatened by a student with a knife.
These episodes testify to the growing violence that is spreading in Italian schools. Urgent intervention by the institutions is needed to guarantee the safety of teachers and students.
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