School Violence Dropped Last Year

THE number of reported cases of violencewithin the public education systemdropped by more than 10,000 in 2004, thePublic Education Ministry has announced– from 113,212 in 2003 to 103,819 lastyear.Public Education Minister ManuelBolaños attributed the drop to the ministry’sefforts to prevent violence and tothe creation of the Office of Children andAdolescents, which offers programs suchas “No debemos callar” (We should notkeep quiet), focused on the prevention ofsex crimes, drug abuse, juvenile crimeand domestic violence.The ministry also began checking students’bags last year to prevent studentsfrom entering schools with drugs orweapons.The ministry’s report shows thatreported cases of aggression were moreoften verbal than physical.