Principals, teachers responsible for security, safety and health of schools
New Straits Times Online, 15 April 2014
PUTRAJAYA: The responsibility to monitor the overall security, occupational safety and health of schools lie in the hands of principals and teachers.
Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said school principals and teachers should take the extra effort to ensure that the security of their institutions is well maintained.
He said: "Principals and teachers must take the collaborative effort to monitor the security in the school compounds aside from making sure the guards are patrolling the surrounding areas."
Idris added that those responsibilities were also part of their (principals and teachers) key performance index (KPI) as the safety of students are of prime importance.
He was commenting on the recent incident that involved several parents whom were held at knifepoint before being robbed of their valuables inside a school compound in Johor Baru.
It was learnt that the robbers had pretended to be guardians picking up their children from SJKT Mount Austin in Taman Desa Tebrau.
He also said that the security guards that schools hire are from private security firms that are registered with the Home Ministry.
On the number of security guards that a school needs, Idris said: "The ratio of guards needed depends on the size of the school and the number of students they have. So it varies."
Idris is also encouraging schools to incorporate occupational safety and health (OSH) practices in their institutions as those can prevent accidents in schools.
He said the 3K committee (cleanliness, beautification and safety) in schools should include OSH practices and create more awareness on its importance.
"This is vital because if potential hazards are identified, the school management can take action to repair or rectify them before accidents happen," Idris said.
Meanwhile, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the institute is ready to work with schools to create safety and health awareness programmes.
He said among the services that Niosh could provide to schools were advice on potential safety and health hazards and methods that could be used to prevent them from happening.
Earlier, Idris had launched the OSH in School campaign that took place in Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah, Putrajaya and he was also accompanied by Lam and DuPont Malaysia managing director Ong Ewe Hock.
DuPont and Niosh would be working together to introduce OSH campaigns in schools nationwide and the importance for such practices which could prevent accidents from happening.
It was also learnt that teachers from selected schools nationwide would be selected to undergo the Train the Trainer programme which would educate them on how to identify hazards or risks in schools and an effective monitoring system.
