School Safety Concerns: Are Our Schools Prepared for Emergencies?

2023-11-29 07:16:00

Are our schools sufficiently safe and secure? Less than two months following the assassination of a teacher in Arras and the terrorist attack which cost the lives of two people, questions from parents regarding school security have never been so numerous.

In an analysis, UFAPEC (French-speaking Union of Catholic Education Parent Associations) is concerned regarding the lack of effective internal emergency plans in schools.

As a reminder, to be able to protect its staff and students, each school must develop an Internal Emergency Plan (PIU), also called a “disaster plan”. This plan includes plans for identifying risk areas, gathering places, people to contact, closing all access to the building, etc. But in reality, many schools are not sufficiently prepared.

“Despicable, abject, revolting”: our teachers worried for their safety following the attack in Arras

“A majority of schools meet the administrative obligation of the PIU but many of them have plans that are poorly adapted or even unsuitable for their reality,” denounces Robert Maes, prevention advisor in schools in Namur and member of the general assembly of UFAPEC.

According to the federation, “due to lack of time and resources, school managements sometimes content themselves with copying and pasting existing PIUs”. Furthermore, disaster plans are not always updated, for example “with regard to the list of internal and external resource people, which can compromise their effectiveness in the event of crisis situations.”

The Catholic education parents’ association therefore requests that the Wallonia-Brussels Federation “ensure that security conditions can become effective in each school, particularly with regard to internal emergency plans.”

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