The education ministry on Thursday said it had reacted to images of children at a school in Dherynia performing Nazi salutes after the taking of their official class photograph by instructing school staff to “avoid similar gestures in the future” as they “could be misinterpreted”.
“It appears that the gesture, which refers to a Nazi salute, was a reckless exhibition of behaviour by middle school pupils after the end of their official school photoshoot,” the ministry began.
It added that it had investigated the matter and “concluded that it was a reckless exhibition of behaviour”.
The ministry concluded its statement by saying its “priority” is to “cultivate democratic and active citizenship in our schools, among teachers and pupils, through specific actions and programmes”.
The image of the children performing a Nazi salute had come to light on Tuesday, with Akel reacting furiously.
The incident occurred at the Peace and Freedom combined middle school and high school near Dherynia, with the party alleging that the children’s teacher had “encouraged” the children to perform the salute.
“It is extremely problematic that a teacher at the school encouraged students to continue taking photographs while performing Nazi salutes, despite the reaction of her colleague to the incident,” the party said, though it did not elaborate on who the colleague was or how they reacted.
“The reproduction of Nazi symbols, even ‘for fun’, constitutes a dangerous deviation which offends the collective memory and undermines the democratic values of education. Nazism has no place in our schools, nor does it have any place in our society,” it added.
“Democracy cannot allow for tolerance towards Nazism.”
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