Cases in which strangers invaded schools and threatened the safety of children have taken place one after another. What safety control measures are being taken at schools?

It is important for schools to take safety control measures in cooperation with households and local-related organizations to enable children to receive education without worrying about safety.

- MEXT has been fostering a “Safety and Security Project for Children” to improve safety at schools both in terms of hardware and software. Under the project, MEXT implemented a lot of measures, including the preparation of a risk control manual to prevent invaders from entering schools and a revision of the “School Facilities Improvement Guidelines” to make the crime prevention-related provisions of schools stricter.

In view of the unending stream of incidents threatening the safety of schoolchildren such as the case that took place at Uji Elementary School, MEXT announced an “Urgent Appeal on School Safety” in January 2004. This appeal, in order to promote specific safety measures at schools, summarizes important points for ensuring children’s safety at schools and shows measures to be implemented based on cooperation among schools, households, local communities, and related organizations.

The urgent appeal emphasizes that (1) each teacher and other school staff must be aware of the importance of risk control as the basis for ensuring school safety and should continuously verify and improve their own risk control

It is said to be important for local communities, schools, and households to cooperate and work together to ensure the safety of schoolchildren. What can I do for children as a member of a local community?

To ensure safety at schools, it is indispensable for local residents to support school-related people in their efforts to make schools safe. Many parents and guardians as well as local residents and organizations may want to do something to contribute to school safety for children.

MEXT announced an urgent appeal for school safety in order to promote more specific school safety measures in January, 2004. This appeal summarizes important points to be noted for ensuring children's safety and shows measures to be taken based on the cooperation of schools, households, local communities, and related organizations. In the MEXT requests local communities to do the following.

(1) Organize volunteers who support schools in taking safety measures

MEXT expects PTAs as well as local youth organizations and residents' associations to lead the organization of volunteers who will support schools in taking safety measures. The volunteer organization will conduct various activities both inside and outside schools to ensure children's safety.

MEXT expects local communities to build a network to share information about suspicious individuals and to ensure the safety of school routes based on local characteristics. It is important that multilayered networks will be built for each school district, neighborhood, and municipality. The networks will organically interact with each other to function as a system to protect local children. MEXT wants local residents to participate in these activities.

(3) Give more support to the “Children’s 110 House” project

The numbers of general households and merchants that support the “Children’s 110 House” project are increasing, and MEXT wants local communities as a whole to give more support to the project.

MEXT expects each local community to continue devising measures to ensure children's safety at schools in view of the aforementioned matters.

Chapter 1, Part 4