A Word from the Principal - Working Together to Keep Kids Safe

The red light for school safety has been turned on again, and it happened in Tainan City. A mentally challenged woman, about 20 years old, on the 11th and 12th of two consecutive days, armed with a knife to the South Branch, the new city of the two campus murder, cut two schoolchildren; and the East District on the 12th of the man surnamed Zhang, disguised as a woman sneaked into the school female toilet, was found by the police in time to pull out the strangers sneaked into the school campus, the school is like not defending the security problems again surfaced, a cause for concern.

According to police analysis, among schools at all levels, colleges and universities are most worried about Internet fraud, junior high schools and high vocational schools are most worried about drug cases, and elementary schools and kindergartens are most afraid of women and children's safety incidents.

A wall-free campus is part of the Ministry of Education's Sustainable Campus Program, which aims to break down the barriers between the campus and the community and create an educational atmosphere on campus. If we only emphasize on the existence or otherwise of the "superficial" walls without thinking about the deeper connotations, I am afraid that we will suffer before we can reap the benefits. Over the past decade or so, school walls have been removed one after another, but I wonder if the removal of walls has been preceded by the consideration of complementary measures for safety maintenance. Is there enough manpower for school safety? Are the facilities complete? Otherwise, once the walls are removed, crises will follow.

Campus space is a place for students to gather and use, so that students can have a safe and secure learning environment, rather than parents worrying and students being afraid of school life, so is it a friendly campus? If there are strangers coming in and out at any time, a sense of uneasiness and fear will arise in one's heart. I wonder if this policy has been well thought out.

Safety is the only way home.

Nursery schools are places where small children gather, and the teaching and caregiving staff are all female teachers, so if there is a security problem due to intruders, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Prevention is better than cure. It's not about waiting until it happens, it's about not letting it happen.

I visited a kindergarten in Japan more than 20 years ago, and I still have a deep impression of it. As far as lunch is concerned, the children's lunch is prepared by their parents. When the children take out their lunch boxes, they first thank their family members for preparing the meal for them, and when they open it to enjoy the meal, regardless of the color of the food, all of them enjoy the meal with smiles on their faces and with a sense of joy. After the meal, there is no lunch break, and parents come to pick up the children around 2:00 to 2:30; after the children go home, the teachers spend the time before the end of the school day preparing for tomorrow's teaching program, rather than spending their own time after work preparing for their teaching jobs.

There are no parents entering or exiting the campus, only to the entrance; there are no motorcycles or vans at the entrance of the school for parents to pick up or drop off their children; parents must park their cars in the community's parking lot, then walk with their children to the kindergarten and hand them over to the teachers at the entrance; when picking up their children in the afternoon, they queue up in an orderly manner and wait quietly by the fence outside, waiting for the teachers to bring their children out; there is no call on the radio; there are no environmental problems with vehicles and air pollution; and there is no campus safety problem. There are no radio calls, no environmental problems with vehicles or air pollution, and no campus safety problems. This is really enviable.

If Japan can do it, I believe Taiwan should also be able to do it.

There are indeed too many things to be changed, and there are so many different things to be changed. If we maintain the status quo, there is no opportunity.

Start small, think big. Politicians must consider issues from a holistic and long-term perspective. Beginning with you and me, we must conquer our selfishness, and the government and the people must work together to build a friendly living, educational, working, and survival environment for the next generation, and a country that looks forward to convergence with the rest of the world.

Have a nice vacation. Peace and happiness.

Mandy