measures.

## (1) Promoting Safety Management at Schools

Schools must uncover as early as possible any dangers present in the school environment that could lead to accidents and any risks posed to schoolchildren engaged in school activities, and then, they must establish systems to ensure the security of schoolchildren and to promptly eliminate these dangers and risks.

Understanding the gravity of the incident at the Ikeda Elementary School, MEXT in July 2001 provided prefectural boards of education with a notice on “The Security of Kindergarten Students and Schoolchildren and Example Emergency Measures for Safety Management in Schools,” and took steps such as special local allocation tax measures to cover the expenses necessitated by the installation of surveillance cameras and panic buttons as emergency safety measures. Bearing in mind the views offered by prefectural boards of education, MEXT in August 2001 produced “Amendment of Matters Requiring Inspection [Examples] for the Security of Kindergarten Students and Schoolchildren and School Safety Management” for distribution to prefectural boards of education.

Furthermore, since FY2002 MEXT has been pursuing a “Safety and Security Project for Children” to provide comprehensive approaches to enhancing school safety and emotional care with the aim of safer and more secure schools.

The “hardware” aspect of safety measures was addressed in “Crime Prevention Measures for School Facilities” (November 2002), a compilation of principles for crime prevention measures for school facilities and points of attention when planning and designing such measures. MEXT further sought to enhance the provisions on crime prevention contained within the “Guidlines for Upgrading of School Facilities” (August 2003) and in September 2004 produced a manual providing additional commentary on these provisions. MEXT has also been preparing collections of case studies that introduce unique crime prevention measures adopted by schools.

The “software” side of safety issues was tackled in “Risk Management Manual for School Invasions” (December 2002), a summary of key points for all schools to bear in mind that serves as a reference for concrete responses to intruders for board of education meetings or schools, and in “Examples of Safety Management Approaches at Schools” (June 2003), an introduction to unique approaches to crime prevention adopted at schools. To encourage schools, families and local communities to work together in further promoting safety management, MEXT in FY2002 commenced a “Community-based School Safety Promotion Program” that seeks to implement practical approaches entailing cooperation by families, police and fire departments, PTAs, local governments and other organizations/groups through which local communities can protect schoolchildren, in order to apply successful approaches nationwide. MEXT also is involved in programs to support “crime prevention classes” aimed at improving the safety response skills of schoolchildren, teachers, and school staff through crime prevention drills and emergency aid training.

National subsidies have been provided for the relocation of administrative offices and classrooms for lower grades and for the installation of gates and fences, and ordinary local grant tax measures have been taken to cover the costs of safety measures at public schools.

The teacher’s manual “Emotional Care for Children during Emergencies and Disasters” prepared in March 1998 was amended in August 2003 to incorporate responses not only to natural disasters but also man-made disasters and other emergencies.

These and other steps have been taken to ensure the safety of children at schools nationwide. Nevertheless, another confrontation occurred after the Ikeda Elementary School attack in which an intruder entered the Uji City Elementary School in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture in December 2003 and threatened children, and incidents of children being harmed on their way to or from school continue to be reported. To promote more concrete measures for improving safety at schools, MEXT then released “An Urgent Appeal on School Safety – Protecting the Safety of Children” (January 20, 2004), which listed specific concerns to be addressed in ensuring the safety of children and cooperative measures that could be pursued by schools, families, communities and relevant organizations. This “Urgent Appeal on School Safety” stressed: