School Safety

Safety in schools is a fundamental human rights issue and is related to children’s rights to education, health, security and dignity. Children have the right to a school environment that is safe, healthy and that enables children to learn.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has said that “Children do not lose their human rights by virtue of passing through the school gates.” When children are unsafe in schools, when they are mistreated or abused, when the school environment criminalizes students with aggressive police presence or other forms of intimidation, their rights to security and dignity are violated.

And when their safety and emotional health are threatened, they are unable to learn and their right to education is violated.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights documents talk a lot about safety and dignity in schools and the obligation to create a child-friendly school environment.

* There must be adequate standards enforced in schools to guarantee the safety and health of children, including standards related to the safety and sanitation of school facilities, and to sufficient numbers of staff who are competent in all school settings.

* Schools must respect the inherent dignity of the child and create an environment where children are free to express their views and develop as confident individuals. Children should not be made to feel or be treated like criminals.

* School discipline must be in the best interests of children and must protect their dignity and human rights. The use of violence against children as a means of discipline are prohibited. Discipline that is humiliating or emotionally abusive also constitutes a violation.

* A school which allows bullying or other violent and exclusionary practices to occur is not protecting children’s rights.

* Education itself must promote non-violence in schools with a “spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance [and] equality.”

As with all human rights, parents and students must be allowed to participate in processes to guarantee these rights. Parents should be allowed access to schools and to information on and participation in the development of school safety and disciplinary policies. There should be independent mechanisms to monitor schools and independent mechanisms for students to seek remedies when their rights have been violated.