The shockwaves from last Friday's violent and tragic incident when a gunman rampaged through the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 children and six adults were felt strongly here in T&T, where school violence is, unfortunately, quite a common occurrence.
While there have been no mass killings, there have been several incidents of injury and death occurring at local schools.
Those incidents, not the Newtown carnage, should have provided Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh with sufficient motivation to urgently and significantly upgrade security at all of T&T's primary and secondary schools. It is troubling, therefore, that his strongest statement on the issue came only after the Connecticut tragedy.
In the last decade or so, school violence has escalated and there have been many incidents of shootings, stabbings and violent gang activity, as well as bullying, intimidation, theft and verbal attacks on teachers, students, administrators, and security personnel. While the focus in addressing this problem has been mainly on high-risk schools, recent trends underscore the urgent need for all schools to be properly secured. Measures taken by education authorities in response to these incidents have included security guards, high walls and even surveillance cameras. However, these have had only limited success, as students regularly find ways to beat these systems.
From all this, it is clear that a sustainable approach to school security requires the involvement of everyone in the school-students, teaching and non-teaching staff, parents and stakeholders in the wider community. Also, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. What is effective or necessary for a secondary school in Port-of-Spain will not work for a small primary school in a rural part of the country. The urban school might seem to be more high-risk but the rural school is more vulnerable to theft and vandalism.
Before Friday, the last heard from the minister on security for schools was his plan to replace security guards with CCTV cameras. Dr Gopeesingh needs to be reminded that true safety and security involves more than a camera on a building. The most effective plan must deal with preventing disasters, responding to threats, and efficiently communicating across channels, sectors, and boundaries.
CCTV cameras can do no more than take pictures for possible identification later and will not prevent an intruder from gaining access to a school, then making an easy escape. In addition, while cameras can be introduced quickly, their success will be heavily dependent on several human factors, including guards and security patrols, awareness programmes and community involvement.
Of course, security isn't only about safeguarding against violent crimes. Incidents like fires and natural disasters must be major factors in any school security plan. Therefore, if he hasn't already done so, the Education Minister must ensure that an egress plan for Port-of-Spain schools is finalised and, while he is at it, ensure similar plans are developed and introduced as needed for schools in other parts of T&T. There are 52 schools in the capital, which have been catered for in the Port-of-Spain City Corporation's egress plan-but the minister is yet to sign off on it.
However, the onus isn't only on the minister. School administrators, with support from relevant stakeholders, must ensure that all students and staff know what to do in case of an emergency. That requires regular evacuation drills so that all concerned know what to do when their safety is at risk. Preparation is essential since, once the emergency strikes, it is too late to come up with safety and security measures-and that could mean the difference between life and death.