A six-and-a-half-year-old first-grader was physically attacked, stripped and filmed on a smartwatch in the changing room of the sports hall at a primary school in Kočani. According to the report, it was done by several other children - also minors, but older than him. The case was reported to the Kočani police at 12:45 on 24 September by the boy's father, a 42-year-old from Kočani.

The competent public prosecutor and the Centre for Social Work have been notified. Who took part, what exactly happened in the changing room and how it came to that at all are still for the authorities to establish. Since children are involved, any measures will depend on their age and on the facts that are established.

But one question doesn't need an investigation to be asked. A first-grader is a six-and-a-half-year-old child. During the school day he shouldn't be left without an adult nearby, let alone in a changing room with older kids. Where was the teacher? Who was responsible for the hall at that moment? Does the school even have a rule on who accompanies the youngest ones to PE?

Reactions on social media are loud and often extreme, from demands to punish the parents to calls for "reform schools". Among them is one sober demand that keeps coming up: that the class teacher should answer for this too, because a first-grader is a child "who needs constant supervision". It's hard to disagree.

The case isn't isolated. Reports of peer violence have been rising over the past two years, and psychologist Mirjana Jovanovska Stojanovska links this to the influence of social media, the need for popularity and power, and a lack of empathy. There's also one detail that mustn't be missed: the video was made on a smartwatch. Since the start of the school year some schools have brought in stricter rules on mobile phones - but a watch on the wrist is apparently not a phone.

The child now has a right to protection and professional support, and the public has a right to an answer, not a press release. The school, the education authorities and the Centre for Social Work need to say what happened, who failed to see it in time and what changes from tomorrow. Because every school has a changing room.