School designed to be a center for learning should be a place that is safe, secured and peaceful but in a situation where the school premises seems unsafe for learning, students will always be reluctant to go to school.
It was Governor Deval Patrict of the States of Massachusetts in the United States who stated that;
“No child will be able to succeed academically if they don’t first feel safe in school. No teacher will be able to teach at their best if they aren’t confident there’s a plan in place to ensure their school is well prepared for an emergency.”
School Security Threats: 13 Secured Ways to Keep Schools Safe for Learning
The following are school security threats to watch out for.
- Any suspicious item or devices should be called to the attention of security personnel immediately.
- Encourage school personnel such as security guards to maintain a heightened awareness for suspicious activity and to report same. This may include suspicious vehicles on and around campus, suspicious persons in and around school buildings including those taking photographs or video recording, suspicious packages around the building perimeter in the school etc.
- Students should be taught to avoid staying in lonely places alone and always be alert and report suspicious and unusual behaviour/happenings immediately.
- Students should be educated on specific safety precautions associated with explosive incidents and bomb threats.
- Provide special attention to perimeter security and access control issues. Have clearly defined perimeters for schools through the use of fences, gates, environmental design, signage, and other professional security measures.
- Educate students to always move away from any car that pulls up beside them and is driven by a stranger, even if that person looks lost or confused.
- Any bomb threat should seriously be accessed through fully. School administration should not rush to evacuate the students without properly examining the genuineness of the threat.
- Maintain a proactive effort of visitor access and control. Reduce the number of doors accessible from the outside to one designated entrance. Do not permit access and report suspicious individuals representing themselves as service or delivery personnel who cannot be verified.
- Schools should set boundaries about the places students can go in the school premises.
- School proprietors should endeavour to provide trainings for their personnel which includes; academic and non-academic staff on how to respond to bomb threats, search procedures, crime scene management, evacuations etc.
- Use designated parking areas especially for visitors and register staff and student vehicles. Provide supervision and monitoring of parking lots and outside areas as appropriate.
- Bomb threats in schools leads to disrupt in school activities such as; loss of lives and properties, temporary suspension of academic activities or total evacuation of school premises.
- Verify the identity of service personnel and vendors visiting the school, including those seeking access to utilities, alarm systems, communications systems, maintenance areas, and related locations.
