With violence in schools and universities increasing everyday, serious questions arise over the status of the safety system in educational institutions today. An all-round framework towards a safer environment in education is the need of the hour, to say the least.
Waking up to the news of yet another gun shooting in a school in the USA, there’s little left to wonder about where the educational domain is headed as far as the safety of students is concerned. Studies point to appalling aspects of such shootings in educational institutions- in four out of every five school shooting attacks, there is at least one person who is aware of the attack but fails to report it.
Yet more pressing is the fact that violence in schools and colleges does not only originate from external sources such as terror attacks and planned shootings. Violence stems from within the institutions as well, be it brawls between students, physical aggression, bullying or subtle forms of discrimination. For instance, a study by the Guardian points out that over 60,000 students have faced some form of racial abuse in schools in the UK in the past five years itself. Such instances which make the students feel unsafe in school or college are numerous and of varying forms.
Needless to say, as a consequence, many students find themselves constantly in a state of hypervigilance, unpleasantness and fear, which in some extreme cases even escalates to the fear for their very lives. Such widespread violence in the educational sector has a lasting impact not only on students and parents, but also on the very ethos of such institutions as well. Find also: Education System India Explained – New Edu Policy
Whether the deterioration of academic performance, high student turnover rates or the impact on students’ mental health and overall well-being, violence in schools and educational institutions has detrimental consequences, sometimes in the form of the tragic loss of student lives. Gun violence in schools and universities is a leading cause of death of children and adolescents in the USA, with 12 children each day losing their lives owing to it.
What is a bare necessity in such a crisis is an all-round approach to safety in the educational space, the initiative for which needs to begin from the grassroot level of the classroom and expand to the macro level in the form of federal measures. Consider this- an environment where a student feels safe and pleasant, also becomes a place where education fosters, and performance enhances. Not only this, safety in schools is conducive to the improved mental health and well-being of students as well.
To achieve this at a macro level, a federal safety system and policy aimed towards protection of students safety is needed. Although many policies framed at a global level to protect the well-being of students are already in place, a more robust framework to implement them is required.
In some nations the unsafe environment is limited to attacks and violence in the universities and school campuses. However, in some other nations and regions, southeast Asian nations like India come to mind, the unsafe educational environment is not mainly related to incidents in the institutional campus. It extends its claws to the virtual learning space instead- in the form of fake universities and impersonators duping students of their money as well as providing fake degrees and certificates for legitimately completed courses. Many platforms are providing upfront student support in the form of reliable career counselling and guidance in choosing right online and distance universities. But widespread measures to avoid student scams are required as well.
Physical safety and screening systems which are full-proof are required at a more widespread level in all schools and universities. Different nations have different security frameworks and standards of safety, but an overall evaluation of the effectiveness of the current security system based on a number of factors- crime rates, prevalence of existing school violence, infrastructural effectiveness etc. is much needed.
But the strife does not end there. Within-organization measures are of equal significance to ensure a safe learning environment.
Regular safety drills, sensitisation programmes, safety training programmes have a long way to go. Both students and teachers need to be sensitised and trained towards creating a safe environment within the premises of the institution, which includes addressing aspects such as school violence, physical, verbal and non-verbal aggression, discriminatory practices and bullying. Student profiling to look for aggressive impulses in students as well as supportive mental health facilities for those who need it, can be a big contributor towards harbouring a feeling of safety at school.
In this regard, it’s essential to remember that feeling unsafe is not a compartmentalised black and white phenomenon which can be analysed on the sole basis of concrete happenings in one’s surroundings. The feeling of safety stems from a much more nuanced sense of acceptance and harmony, which can be very subjective in nature. In a classroom where all students but one feel safe, the purpose gets defeated. Measures which are taken with the purpose of making the classroom and the educational institution safe for every student irrespective of age, class, race or gender can lead to a better future.
In the 21st century, where nations are vowing to promote global peace and harmony, the need to establish safer schools and universities, which are the shrines of developing and educating the future of the world, can become the stepping stone in this direction. And the purpose shall be appropriately met only when no parent fears sending their child to a school and no college student in any university has second thoughts about losing their lives when they enter the classroom to take a lecture.
