To prevent impersonators from taking risks

Students of a primary school in Ho Chi Minh City walk home after school.

As for the recent incident in Phan Thiet City (Binh Thuan), during the dismissal time of primary school students, a man suspected of impersonating a parent came to pick up a first grader. The security guard discovered him, blocked the car, and carried the student down. The incident is being investigated by the police. According to initial information from Phan Thiet City Police, this was a motorbike taxi driver who was asked by the parents to pick up the student, but because this person drove around in circles, people were scared and suspected of kidnapping children.

However, in the face of this doubt from parents and schools, the issue that needs attention is how can schools and parents work together to ensure the safety of students during school hours? What are the safety skills that need to be taught to students, especially preschool and elementary school children, so that those who impersonate parents with bad intentions do not have the opportunity to take risks?

If you ask a relative to pick up your child, you need to inform the teacher.

Right from the start of the new school year 2023-2024, the Principal of Nguyen Thai Son Primary School, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, issued a notice and widely posted on the school website about the issue of strengthening security and ensuring safety during student pick-up hours at school.

According to the announcement: "To avoid situations where people pretend to be family members to pick up students from school, the school recommends that teachers, nannies and parents increase their vigilance during school dismissal and when picking up children at school."

Specifically, for parents, the Principal of Nguyen Thai Son Primary School, District 3, recommends that parents try to arrange a time to pick up their children directly. In case of having relatives pick up their children, parents need to inform the class nanny and instruct students to only follow relatives who have been notified in advance.

The school requests that homeroom teachers and nannies only hand over students to their parents or relatives (who have been notified in advance by the parents) and that the students must be able to identify the relatives who come to pick them up. Absolutely do not hand over students to strangers.

"In cases where parents do not directly pick up students, to ensure the safety of the children, the nannies will record information such as pick-up time, vehicle number, and phone number of the person picking up the children (the person picking up the children must cooperate with the school)," according to the announcement of Nguyen Thai Son Primary School, District 3.

Schools advise parents and relatives to arrange time to pick up their children after school.

At the same time, this elementary school also said that the school has increased security guards to monitor during school hours and has surveillance cameras to ensure student safety, especially during school hours.

Safety education for students

Master Pham Thanh Tuan, member of the Civic Education Council, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that ensuring safety for students, especially during school hours, and avoiding the risk of people impersonating parents to do bad things is the responsibility of the family, the school and the students themselves. Therefore, it is very necessary to educate students about safety skills.

On the family side, according to Master Thanh Tuan, parents need to regularly remind their children not to contact strangers; not to go with strangers without the consent of the parents. Always remind children to wait for their parents, grandparents or relatives to pick them up, not to arbitrarily listen and believe what strangers say.

"Parents can make name tags with personal phone numbers, so that when necessary, students can ask teachers or school staff to call them directly to confirm information," suggested Master Thanh Tuan, who is also the head of the professional group at Dien Hong Secondary and High School, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City.

Parents waiting to pick up their children from school

According to Master Thanh Tuan, regularly organizing seminars to teach students skills such as how to handle situations when meeting strangers, staying calm in dangerous situations, etc. is very practical and useful. Through these seminars, teachers create real-life situations for students to handle and come up with appropriate solutions.

"Along with educating students on skills, schools need to inform parents about pick-up and drop-off times for their children. In addition, it is necessary to ensure and improve security and safety in schools and at school gates by regularly assigning security guards and teachers to check and supervise to handle unusual cases...", Master Thanh Tuan emphasized.

What are the lessons to teach children?

Master Pham Thanh Tuan points out safety lessons that parents and teachers need to teach children, from preschool to primary school age:

1. Do not listen to strangers; Do not accept money, gifts, toys... from strangers.
2. Quickly go to where there are teachers and school staff for support and help.
3. Proactively ask teachers and school staff to contact parents for accurate information; and know how to refuse to answer phone calls from strangers.
4. Stay calm in dangerous situations, ask for help from trusted people.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/nghi-bat-coc-hoc-sinh-de-ke-mao-danh-phu-huynh-khong-the-lam-lieu-185231227134959961.htm