She is one of 760 people who have told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about their experiences from childhood and schooling. – When mum and dad left me at school on the first day, I was placed in what we called a special class. The school and the municipality decided that the children were “disabled” and wanted to send us to a public school for the disabled, Tjikkom tells news. On Thursday, the commission published its report to the Storting. Here, the school in Lavangen municipality that Inger Tjikkom attended is highlighted as an example of how Norwegianisation affected individuals through devaluation and discrimination. In addition, the children were exposed to psychological and physical violence from fellow students and teachers. – I was inflicted with wounds that are irreparable. Being harassed and ridiculed as a child follows you all your life, says the 65-year-old. Not everyone has been able to tell about their experiences.«Both teachers and fellow students took part in the violence against the students from Ruŋgu/Spansdalen. Those who have shared their stories with the commission say that the students who were exposed to the most violence did not want to come forward with their stories.” SOURCE: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission – Confirmation that the Sami were “stupid” The lavange in Troms was used by the Sami until the 1950s. But after the school in Ruŋgu/Spansdalen was closed down, the pupils were transferred to the central school in Tennevoll. – The meeting with a monolingual Norwegian school which in no way took into account the children’s Sami background and the fact that the children had Sami as their first language was decisive, the commission writes in the report. The Sami children fell short in the school context. Their challenges were seen as “Sámi peculiarity” by the teachers, and that the Sámi as a people were second-rate in several respects. – Among the teachers at the central school at Deannja/Tennevoll, an attitude spread that the Sami students from Ruŋgu/Spansdalen were not worth spending time on and that the only way to do it was to give them up, the report says. PRESENTED: Leader of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Dagfinn Høybråten at the Storting on Thursday. Photo: Torgeir Varsi / news In the early 1960s, the municipality’s school board decided that pupils who could not follow the lessons had to be sent to Elvemo special school. – For the teachers, the fact that children from Spansdalen had been admitted to Elvemo was confirmation that the Sami from Spansdalen were “stupid”, writes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Such attitudes could be expressed already on the first day of school, according to the report. The parents of the children refused to send the children away. Among these were also Inger Tjikkom’s parents. But they chose a different solution. – My parents chose to stop speaking Sami to us. They felt compelled to “save” us from being hit and kicked during school. They themselves were hit and kicked at school because they spoke Sami, and did not want us to experience the same, says the 65-year-old. The mayor: – I remember that it was like that Mayor Hege Beate Rollmoen (54) in Lavangen tells news that it is very painful to think that Sami children would be sent to a special school for disabilities. – I remember even when I went to school that it was like that. I don’t think I realized it until I was old enough to understand what was happening. That this was actually an abuse of the children, something traumatic that will affect you for the rest of your life, says the Labor mayor. SORRY: Mayor Hege Beate Rollmoen. Photo: Johan Ante Utsi / news – How can one reconcile such an incident? At least don’t continue to commit injustice. I don’t think it’s that easy to make up for the injustice that was done then. You can’t fix it. You have to accept and acknowledge that it has happened, says Rollmoen. The mayor says that she has apologized to the Sami population for the injustice committed against them. – Still influencing Inger Tjikkom says that the population in Spansdalen was described as thieves, fraudulent and dirty people by others in the surrounding villages. – Living under such pressure meant that we did not dare to tell where we came from. We were exposed to heavy stamping, which today can sound like a fantasy, she says. She believes that the Sami can still experience stigmatization for their ancestry. – These experiences still affect people, she says. Despite tough school years; Inger Tjikkom received higher education and has worked as a social worker. LAVANGEN: The municipality is located in Sør-Troms. Loabák is the Sami name. In the commission’s report, it appears that an investigation in the 1970s revealed that the problems the pupils from Ruŋgu/Spansdalen had at school were not the result of a lack of ability on the part of the pupils. The problems were “linguistically and culturally conditioned”. Special educator Øivind Haaland, who carried out the investigation, concluded, among other things: “In relation to its official intentions and goals, the school fails completely in its teaching of the Spansdal pupils. The school’s influence on personality development seemed to be negative for these students.” The findings of the special education teacher were rejected by the school management.
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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission – Inger was labeled as mentally retarded and retarded – news Sápmi
