According to rector Milena Králíčková, the main task of Charles University (UK) during the first year since the tragic shooting at its Faculty of Philosophy was to provide assistance to the survivors and the wounded to help them return to their studies. 88 million crowns (3.5 million euros) were collected in the collection to help the victims, 6,500 people sought psychological help from the university. This was announced on Monday by representatives of the UK and at the same time they presented the university’s Center for Resilience, reports TASR in Prague.
According to Králíčková, the university strengthened security measures during the year and adopted a security plan for several areas. One of them is physical barriers, for example checks at the entrance to buildings – but according to her, these can only be implemented in new buildings. She identified exercises, training and the introduction of a crisis information and summoning system as very important.
“It should be prepared in such a way that, in the event of security incidents, it provides either acutely needed information or information with some distance, which should reach the largest possible group of students and employees. We are in the phase of gradual implementation of these systems, at different faculties we are at different stages,” the rector approached.
Eva Lehečková, dean of the FF UK, added that the gatehouse will be modified in the main building of the faculty, where the shooting took place. She described the progress in the area of safety and psychosocial safety as huge. According to her, the emphasis on the so-called well-being, i.e. overall mental well-being, helped students and employees to ease back into the building and overcome fear.
One of the measures to better deal with the situation is also the establishment of the Resilience Center. According to its coordinator Jan Tesárek, it provides support group meetings, individual counseling, training workshops and other activities focused on first aid, de-escalation and conflict management. He emphasized that crisis management can be learned. The goal is to create a comprehensive support system that will provide help to everyone when they need it most. “I hope this will help make the UK a safer, more resilient and welcoming place for everyone,” he added.
In the main building of the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague on December 21, 2023, its student shot 13 people, one person later died in hospital. He injured another 25 people and finally shot himself. Shortly before the massacre at the FF UK, he shot his father in the village of Hostouň, about a week before a random man with a child in the Klánovick forest on the outskirts of Prague.
