Over the last two years more than 600 schools have been destroyed in Afghanistan alone; they were shut down, burned or bombed by militants, extremists, rebels or terrorists. Turkey had its share of the terrorists’ attacks where more than 300 schools were destroyed.
The Northwest Frontier Province in Pakistan suffered attacks on about 150 schools in recent years as the “Pakistani Taliban” continues to spread fear among the people especially the non-Muslim.
On September 1, 2004, militants took over the Beslan School in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia. The crisis left 334 hostages and 186 children dead. The school facilities were destroyed as a result of the battle between Russian security forces and the militants. There were rockets, heavy weapons, and a series of explosions that put the school in blazing fires. As of 2010 most angles of the tragedy remain unsolved.
Schools are favorite targets among other vital installations because by obstructing education terrorists can paralyze a generation, where people are placed in confusion and disarray. Bombing schools would cause fear among people who want to protect their children and prevent them from going to school. Education of children is the most powerful form of defense against treat to national security.
The entire world knows about this. In a country where there is conflict between the government and the militant groups, you can see poor people who would likely die poor without having any chance to break away from poverty.
Measures Needed for School Safety against Terrorism
- Awareness
- Being Prepared is an Effective Defense
- Show Deterrent Force
- Timely Detection
School attacks are not things of the past. The reality that school children are very vulnerable must be the focus in planning for security in the national level at all times.
There was an incident in Baily, Colorado where hostages were taken in a school where one was killed. It was so ironic that SWAT team from the neighboring Jefferson County was summoned to deal with the hostage crisis.
There must be visible, alert, trained and equipped security personnels in the vicinity of the schools ready to respond immediately. Their presence must be able to convince the attacker that there is no way they can harm innocent school children once they come.
Act like detectives who are vigilant and watchful. Attackers perform thorough inspection of their targets. They need photos or may do some sketching of your area. Human and surveillance cameras can help do the early detection.
All necessary precautions should be learned by the community, officials and school children in any way possible for them to grasp the idea that everybody should be vigilant all the time. A quiet period is when the enemies conduct recon and plan their horrible acts.
Indeed, when education is obstructed it results to economic damage. To prevent further blows on children’s education, there should be a strong political will to prioritize and allocate limited national budget on the school security, emergency plans and strategies to prevent them from terrorist attacks.