© dpa
Two new anti-bullying and anti-discrimination officers at Berlin schools want to do more to identify the need for counseling among teachers and schoolchildren.
Political scientist Wanjiru Njehiah and lawyer and criminologist Michelle Lisson started work at the Berlin Education Administration a few weeks ago and were introduced at the Senate Administration on Thursday. Both positions had previously been vacant for more than two years.
The two commissioners report directly to the Senator for Education, Katharina Günther-Wünsch. "We know that we had very loose structures in the past, but because the topic really is of enormous importance to us, we now want to reposition it with a clear concept," emphasized the CDU politician. Two additional part-time positions are planned for the area of anti-discrimination.
According to the Education Senate, Wanjiru Njehiah has been in office for eight weeks. The qualified political scientist has worked as an anti-discrimination advisor, political educator and specialist moderator in recent years. She has already received and dealt with a number of requests for advice from school principals. Njehiah explained that her work as an anti-discrimination officer focuses on providing advice as well as preventative measures and better networking with state and independent organizations in the field of anti-discrimination.
Michelle Lisson started working as an anti-bullying officer four weeks ago. The 38-year-old has already been working in the field of anti-bullying for a number of years, and in the last four years she has increasingly held counseling sessions with parents. "I'm now looking forward to getting the perspective of the school supervisory authorities, because that's a perspective I'm still lacking in this area," says Lisson.