ZAGREB, June 12, 2020 - The annual Luka Ritz award for the promotion of tolerance and violence-free schools was presented on Friday to primary school student Dorotea Horvat from Nasice and secondary school student Luka Prce from Vukovar.

The head of the award presentation committee, Suzana Ritz, thanked everyone who participated in the competition and especially the award recipients and their parents, teachers, and principals, emphasizing that we should be proud of the recipients, the way they deal with problems, and the values they represent.

Science and Education Minister Blazenka Divjak said that the award presentation was a celebration of those who should be an example to us all and that it helps to ensure that one can breathe freely and easily in schools, as it was stated by Luka Ritz, a young man who died in June 2008 from injuries sustained in a case of peer violence.

ZAGREB, June 12, 2019 - The 11th annual Luka Ritz awards for the promotion of tolerance and violence-free schools were presented on Wednesday to elementary schooler Nika Rusijan of Pazin and high schooler Magdalena Dakić of Vinkovci, with both saying no one had to be an A student but that everyone could be a good person if they thought a little about themselves and others.

Special certificates were given to elementary schoolers Darija Vusić, Doroteja Horvat and Nada Stjepanović, and high schoolers Patricija Ivanković and Ljiljana Beljan.

Speaking at the award ceremony at the Science and Education Ministry, Minister Blaženka Divjak said this was a day of combating violence and that today's winners were heroes just like Luka Ritz, who she said would have been a grown man in his prime today had there been no violence.

Divjak thanked the parents, families and schools of the recipients. We need such beacons for spreading tolerance, humanitarian work and non-violent conflict resolution, she said, adding that the ministry would give 26 schools HRK 10,000 each for developing non-violent conflict resolution programmes.

The minister also underlined the need to raise one's voice against verbal violence and tolerance of hate speech.

An action plan for preventing violence in schools in the 2019-24 period was presented at the ceremony and put up for public consultation today, with Divjak announcing more state funds for the prevention of school violence.

A report shows that crisis team had to intervene in schools 24 times in 2016, 19 in 2017 and 52 in 2018, for which 218,000 kuna was spent in 2016, 104,000 kuna in 2017 and 418,000 kuna in 2018.

The number of prevention programmes rose from eight (8) in 2016 to 38 last year, it was said at the action plan presentation.

More children news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, February 27, 2019 - The Zagreb-based community counselling centre "Luka Ritz" held an open-door event on Wednesday to mark the national anti-bullying day and raise awareness of the importance of prevention as the most effective way to fight peer violence, with Mayor Milan Bandić and President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović attending.

The counselling centre has operated as a city public institution since October 2017, providing counsel and support with the aim of eradicating factors that lead to peer violence and other behavioural problems in youth.

"Over the past year and a half, we had 800 clients and provided more than 3,000 services, with boys aged 10-17 and their mothers being the most frequent clients," said the head of the centre, Ivana Jolić.

According to the centre's statistics, most of those who sought counselling did so because they had problems related to parenting and problems in family relations, with 17.5% having been found to have experienced some form of violence.

Two-thirds of the centre's clients have experienced domestic or partner violence, while 34% have experienced peer violence.

After visiting the centre, President Grabar-Kitarović said that family had the key role in fighting peer violence. "Family and parenting is the foundation of everything, but we must not leave everything to parents because they are often confused and do not know how to react to what their child does or to what other children do to their child," said the president.

The Zagreb counselling centre was named after Luka Ritz, an 18-year-old from Zagreb who was beaten up by a group of five youths in 2008 and died in hospital several days later as a result of injuries sustained in the attack.

Anti-Bullying Day, also called Pink Shirt Day, is marked globally on the last Wednesday in February. It commemorates support to a boy who became a victim of peer violence for wearing a pink shirt as a sign of support for his ill mother.

Croatia has been marking Anti-Bullying Day since 2017.

More news on the children’s issue in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.