Excuse me, where are you going?

Primary School Security

Lin Yanqin
yanqin@mediacorp.com.sg

PARENTS, coaches and instructors, even various service vendors and contractors — on any given day, a school could see all kinds of visitors streaming in.

Should their comings and goings be more strictly monitored, following news this week that a seven-year-old pupil was sexually assaulted in a school toilet by a repairman?

The security protocols are in place, the schools say; but are they being strictly adhered to, wondered some parents whom Today spoke to.

“Usually the school asks me to sign in, but not sign out,” said Ms Tan Bee Cher, who has two children in primary school. “They make sure you give a reason for being around, but once you’re in, they don’t know if you’ve actually left.”

Housewife Cynthia Wong, 48, agreed: “Schools might not know where you’re going after you enter the school... I think this incident is a good reminder that we need to be more careful, and schools should be more vigilant.”

But when it comes to service providers or contractors doing maintenance work, the precautions go beyond the usual requirements of registering at the security booths, said principals. A staff member usually escorts them.

“For example, when we have maintenance crews coming in to do gardening, our operations manager knows what time they’re coming and will arrange to be there or have staff meet them and show them where they’re supposed to be working,” said Radin Mas Primary principal Lee Lai Yong.

“Or if we have contractors working on the air-con systems, an attendant will escort them from room-to-room because these rooms are also locked.”

And when enrichment lessons or cocurricular activities are carried out by instructors, it is a standing rule that teachers must be present.

How rigorously are these rules adhered to? Very strictly, said Elias Park Primary principal Wong Siew Shan. Her school does not allow visitors into the classroom block, while work requiring the presence of workers over an extended period of time is scheduled during holidays when possible, and they are restricted to their work areas.

“We don’t make exceptions, we make sure service vendors and contract workers are escorted,” she said, and added that teachers and pupils are reminded regularly to report strangers on school grounds.

While Bukit View Primary principal Jenny Law was not aware of the assault in question, which occurred last July and resulted in the culprit receiving a 10-year jail term and 12 strokes of the cane on Monday, she said that “reminders to our staff to be vigilant is an ongoing thing”.

“For example, teachers are expected to be vigilant about younger students going to the bathroom in pairs,” she said. “Security is something we take seriously.”

At Radin Mas, teachers also take note if pupils leave the classroom for too long. “We want to make sure they’re okay, or they haven’t wandered off,” said Mdm Lee.

Ms Tan is still concerned, but also noted that parents have a part to play.

“If a person has ill intent, how can schools be aware of this?” she said. “I think it’s best to talk to our kids and tell them to be careful about following a stranger.”

Elias Park’s Mrs Wong said her school also talks to its pupils about what to do in such scenarios. “Teachers reinforce the messages when they return to class and provide students with the time and space to share their experiences or stories they have heard about encounters with strangers,” she said.

From TODAY, Afternoon Edition
Thursday, 02-April-2009