An 11-year-old Brazilian student was assaulted by a classmate inside a public school in the city of Entroncamento, in central Portugal. The case, which would have occurred on the 4th, was recorded by other students, who filmed the scene with their cell phones without acting to stop the punches and kicks.
Images of the attack were shared on social media, fueling the debate about violence, bullying and xenophobia in the country’s public school system. In 2021 Portugal reached the highest number of immigrants in its history: more than 771 thousand, in a population of about 10.3 million.
The child’s mother registered the incident with the police and claims that, on the same day, her daughter was physically assaulted again at school. She says that the girl has been the target of bullying and xenophobic attacks since she started attending school in 2018.
“I don’t even know what to think, because I moved to Portugal precisely to escape violence. I used to live in São Gonçalo [região metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro] and wanted to come here to allow my daughter to have more security”, says Antônia Melo to leaf.
On the eve of last Christmas, the Brazilian child received a message on WhatsApp, sent by a colleague, suggesting that she commit suicide: “Kill yourself. Nobody loves you”. At the time, the mother filed a complaint of online harassment to the educational institution, but according to her, nothing concrete was done.
The girl has developed depressive behavior since she started being bullied in Portugal. In addition to derogatory references to Brazil, she heard comments such as “go back to your land” on several occasions.
The reading habits of the young woman, who showed up at school with a copy of the “Death Note” series, were also used as ammunition. The manga series tells the story of a student who finds a supernatural notebook with the property of killing people.
After the episode of physical violence, Antônia Melo says she wants to transfer the child from school. This week, she participated in a meeting with those responsible for the institution and a psychologist. Although the board has assured that it will ensure the child’s safety, the mother says that she does not feel confident for her daughter to resume living with the aggressors.
“She went to school after the assault, but with all the repercussions, she is suffering. Classmates said that she is to blame for her mother reporting the case”, she says. Upon becoming aware of the images with the attacks on her daughter, Antônia recorded a video reporting the situation and venting. In a few days, after Portuguese TV reported the episode and broadcast the scenes, she says she received similar reports from Brazilian mothers in various parts of the country.
She assesses that there is an underreporting of cases, with an environment that does not encourage parents to report situations that occur in schools.
According to the report “A Family Face: Violence in the Lives of Children and Adolescents”, published in 2017 by Unicef, 31% to 40% of young people aged between 11 and 15 in Portugal said they had been bullied at school at least once in two months prior to the survey.
THE leaf contacted the school, but there was no response until the publication of this text. The Portuguese Ministry of Education declared that it opened, on Monday (7), an inquiry to investigate the episode and informed that it will provide psychological support to the student. “Within the framework of its autonomy, the school has worked on the topic of bullying, in order to combat deviant behavior and favor tolerance, respect, as well as the emotional well-being of the student community”, says the note.
At the end of January, the report of the aggression of another Brazilian child in a public school in Portugal also drew attention, but with the aggravating factor that the violence came from an employee. The seven-year-old boy, who has developmental delay and difficulty expressing himself orally, is in the process of being investigated for the diagnosis of autism.
He showed emotional lack of control after being forced to eat — food selectivity is one of the characteristics of the spectrum — by one of the school’s education assistants. The boy kicked the employee, who reacted with a slap in the face. The blow caused a heavy nose bleed and was witnessed by the other students.
According to the boy’s mother, Maria Venâncio, the school did not initially report the severity of the episode, omitting the information that the boy had had the bleeding. “When I went to get him, he was already clean. They had put another coat over the bloody clothes,” she said.
The Brazilian filed a complaint with the police and the employee is away. “I want my son to continue at school, where he studied before and is well integrated. My idea is to fight to change things and ensure that this doesn’t happen to any other child,” she says.
