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Security around schools is poor
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-26 07:51
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Security around schools is poor
A man who allegedly is mentally challenged stabbed eight children to death and injured five at their school gate in Nanping, Fujian province, on Tuesday. The tragedy exposes the lack of security around schools, says an article in Beijing Times. Excerpts:
The attack on 13 children in Nanping, Fujian province, has highlighted the lack of proper security in and around schools. Had the school authorities posted security guards at the gate, the lives of some if not all the eight victims could have been saved.
The responsibility of protecting students, especially small children, falls on schools. But many schools make part-time teachers act as security guards who are not trained to handle emergency situations and protect schoolchildren from attacks.
Toronto's police department began posting regular security forces at schools after a shooting. The public security bureau should learn a lesson from it and do the same to prevent the recurrence of a Nanping-like tragedy.
If it is not possible to post policemen at every school in China, local security bureaus could at least include a "school security program" on their priority list of dos and conduct intensive research on the security situation in and around every local school. Once that is done, they can assign policemen to keep guard at the vulnerable ones to prevent attacks on children.
