“If a suspect object is left in front of the
school, what should the security guards do?”
This was just one of the questions posed by
explosions experts from Beijing's Haidian District Police as they
trained security guards for local schools and kindergartens
recently.
It is the first time that school security guards
have received training from police in the capital. A number of
incidents this year, some involving children being injured or even
killed, have raised fears about how well they are protected.
According to Mr. Wang, from the Security Department
of Haidian's Education Commission, over 400 security guards at more
than 200 of the district's schools and kindergartens have received
training. The content was designed by local police and focuses on
dealing with emergency and potentially dangerous situations.
According to the Haidian's Education Committee, all
schools and kindergartens in the district are required to employ
professional security guards and must have a vice president in
charge of security.
Across the city, in Chaoyang, guards have also
begun working at the kindergarten of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs -- the first to employ professional security guards in the
eastern district.
"See you tomorrow, Uncle Policeman!" says
four-year-old Wang Baobao as she salutes before leaving the
kindergarten with her grandmother. The four security guards who
protect them are policemen in her eyes, and she is clearly
comfortable in their presence.
The guards come from Chaoyang Security Guards
Company, and say they feel additional pressure here, since children
are obviously less able to protect themselves than adults. The
company's general manager, Kong Fanshu, says that they will provide
professional guards for more than 300 schools and kindergartens in
the district.
Mrs. Zhang, a mother of a child at the ministry
kindergarten, said, "Of course security is the most important
concern for us -- I strongly support them employing professional
security guards."
(China.org.cn by Wang Sining,
December 1, 2004)