The government wants to give schools legal opportunity to search for bags to discover, for example, weapons. Schools should also ensure that unauthorized persons are not given access.
– We work intensively to increase the safety of students, teachers and other employees at schools, says Minister of Education Johan Pehrson (L).
Pehrson states that they will be promptly moving on with the proposals presented by the School Safety Investigation in December. The goal is for them to come into force on July 1 this year.
– In some parts we want to go further than the investigation, says Pehrson.
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Search for bags
Prior to the autumn term, the government wants a new security chapter to be included in the School Act. There, there should be a requirement that there is preparedness for serious violence situations through education, planning and exercise on, for example, accommodation.
– All schools should have a contingency plan so everyone knows how to act in an emergency situation, says Pehrson.
Schools are given an opportunity to search bags. The study’s proposal included high school and high school. But after the mass shooting in Örebro, the government wants the entire elementary school and also to be included.
The investigation also proposed that examination of bags should always be announced in advance, but the government does not think so.
– Our ambition is to change the proposal, says Pehrson.
He states that when the school, ultimately the principal, considers that there is a risk of disruptive objects or if there are activities you are worried about, all students’ bags should be able to be scanned, without being announced in advance.
– The principal is allowed to decide on how it should go, says the Minister of Education.
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Locked schools?
However, Pehrson emphasizes that if the school believes that a student has a weapon, then it should be directly reported to the police.
The security chapter in the School Act also means that all preschools and schools must work to ensure that no unauthorized access to the school’s area when the business is ongoing.
– It may be, for example, to strengthen the shell protection with entry controls and a tag system with locked doors, says Pehrson.
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– It’s up to the principal to decide, says Pehrson.
– We see great values with that. Input control is one way.
Principals shall also have an obligation to report crimes that are done in connection with the school activities.
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