After the Government announced measures to increase security in schools, a new meeting of the working group was held in the Ministry of Science and Education on Monday, after which Minister Radovan Fuchs, along with technical measures, announced the development of curricula for the education of specialized personnel.
Minister Fuchs presented a series of security measures for schools after the meeting of the Commission for drafting proposals for basic measures to strengthen the level of security in schools. They will still be worked on during the holidays, and the Protocol, which should be applied from the beginning of the second semester, is referred to for coordination before proceeding.
In some schools, additional technical staff will be employed, with a wider occupation than the usual security guard, because such a person should also be educated in terms of safety, fire protection and occupational safety. In the EU, each member is left to solve it at the state level and the practices are different, said the minister. In the first period, through the amendment of the rulebook, it will be possible to hire a person who would be at the door of the school.
“Education for a security guard lasts 100 hours. Everyone who understands that segment agrees that it is not the happiest solution for schools. We need an upgrade for pedagogical and social skills, which would be an additional 60 hours of education,” said Fuchs.
The curriculum proposal in coordination with the Civil Protection and the Institute for Social Research should be developed in the next two months.
He added that he deliberately did not want to say who that person was, but that in any case he would be in charge of controlling entry and exit from the school, but also much more widely. We set the task that such a curriculum proposal would be made within two months, and after that we would proceed to specific implementation, he said.
Minister Fuchs confirmed that during the school holidays, work will be done on technical solutions to increase security, such as replacing locks on school doors to prevent them from being opened from the outside. Also, from January 7th, doors with locks that open from the inside and with a silent alarm will be installed.
New meeting on June 8
Sanja Šprem, president of the Union of Croatian Teachers and president of the Matica of Croatian Unions, reported that today the members of the working group for safety in schools came with specific information for guidelines, especially Civil Protection and the police.
Referring to the tragic attack in the Prečko Elementary School in Zagreb, when a 19-year-old entered the school armed with a knife and killed one and injured three more children, the teacher and herself, she said that after and tragedies, it is useful to see the best examples of security measures from France, Switzerland, England and Sweden.
“The combination of their measures is applicable in long-term plans,” she said, “but this time, the ministry has foreseen quick changes to the regulations and the possibility of hiring new people, and we are very satisfied with that.”
She highlighted as important the possibility of police visits to all schools due to security checks from January 7, as well as better communication with parents and upgrading of e-diaries.
The protocol was sent for coordination, and the next meeting with principals and experts, in order to define additional security measures and adapt them to the specific conditions of each school, is scheduled for June 8.