The Ministry of Education and Sciences of Paraguay authorized this Thursday to check the backpacks of students to prevent the entry of firearms or knives into schools, amid concern for school security due to alleged threats and after the stabbing to death of a school principal at the hands of a student.
The official resolution delegated to the institutional educational risk management committee of each school the check the student’s bags.
The control, which can be done randomly, also seeks to prevent the entry of “psychoactive substances (drugs), including vapers, fireworks and other prohibited elements”, details the ministerial decision.
Verification will be carried out by at least one parenta mother or legal representatives or guardians and will be done in the presence of the student.
If any prohibited object or substance is found, it will be retained.the parents or guardians of the student will be notified and the Police will be notified.
Public opinion in Paraguay has turned its gaze on the situation in schools after last May 30, a 16-year-old adolescent stabbed to death in a classroom and in front of his classmates the principal of his school, located in the town of Colonia Independencia, in the department of Guairá (east).
Local media also reported on Tuesday the discovery of a replica of a firearm in a educational establishment in the town of Ñemby and a compressed air pistol at a school in the city of Fernando de la Mora.
Other complaints have reported alleged threats of attacks at schools and even at a private university, which has forced the suspension of classes while the facts are investigated.