When protecting our children becomes a postponed question, the answer may come too late!
Protecting Children in Schools Is a Responsibility That Cannot Wait
From discussing incidents of abuse to questioning painful events that may end in the loss of a child, a pressing question remains: Are our schools subject to sufficient oversight to ensure our children are protected within their walls? And are current procedures adequate for monitoring staff and teachers, and watching over the areas where children move throughout the school day?
We are not here to discuss a specific incident, nor to point an accusatory finger at any person or entity. Rather, we are raising a legitimate question that touches every Egyptian family, placing school security and the protection of children at the top of a priority list that cannot wait.
Surveillance Cameras: Do Schools Need Greater Attention?
Given that surveillance cameras have become a widespread, essential fixture in streets, shops, and apartment building entrances—helping uncover numerous incidents and assisting the relevant authorities in determining the facts—why do schools not receive the same attention? Are our children not more deserving of protection and care? And is what happens inside a school any less valuable than what happens outside it?
A school is not merely a building where students receive an education; it is a place where parents entrust their most precious possessions to the educational community. Providing a safe school environment is therefore just as important as developing curricula, improving academic achievement, or focusing on attendance and discipline.
Could surveillance cameras inside schools become an essential part of the student protection system?
Practical Solutions to Enhance Oversight Inside Schools
Cost may be an obstacle to expanding the installation of cameras in all schools, but can we not explore practical solutions starting with the areas of greatest need, such as hallways, stairs, and classroom entrances and exits, while establishing regulations for their operation and the handling of recordings? It is also possible to discuss the potential contribution of boards of trustees and parents to this system, in official coordination with educational departments, if regulations and resources permit.
Cameras Alone Are Not Enough to Achieve Safety
Yet the matter does not stop at cameras alone. Having a sufficient number of qualified supervisors and staff, continuous monitoring of student movements, and serious supervision of various activities and areas within the school are all essential elements for achieving true safety.
Here, we must pay attention to an important point: cameras are a tool to assist, deter, and uncover the facts of incidents, not a substitute for human supervision or management responsibility.
Children’s Privacy Is Part of the Protection System
The desire for security should also not turn into a violation of children’s privacy. Monitoring must therefore be restricted to appropriate areas, away from restrooms and changing rooms, while safeguarding recordings and preventing their circulation or use outside of designated purposes.
Prevention Is Better Than Waiting for Accidents to Happen
Waiting for a painful accident to happen before we begin thinking about security measures is not the solution we wish for our children. Prevention is better than a cure; this is far better than facing consequences that may prove harsh, as some psychological and physical impacts cannot easily be erased, regardless of the measures taken after the damage is done.
Proposals to Enhance Our Children’s Security in Schools
We therefore put forward proposals that deserve serious study: Why should the Ministry of Education not adopt a clear new plan to enhance oversight within schools, combining increased human supervision, the installation of cameras in suitable locations, and effective mechanisms for receiving and handling student and parent complaints quickly and transparently?
Protecting a child is not the responsibility of the family alone, nor of the school alone; it is a shared responsibility that requires genuine cooperation among parents, educational departments, teachers, and society.
Our Children Are a Trust—and Safety Is the Foundation of Education
Can we treat the security of our children as a priority no less important than their education? And will we wait for a problem to occur before searching for a solution, or should we begin taking preventive steps today to protect our children tomorrow?
Our children are a trust, and the school we feel reassured sending them to every morning should be a place of learning and growth, not a source of anxiety and fear. Education builds minds, but safety protects the owners of those minds, and educational progress holds no value without genuine care for the safety of our children.
Written by Rody Nabil
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تابع معنا تحليل قراءة الصحف اليومية مع الكاتب الصحفي Hany Sallam عبر