ABSTRACT
Threats to school are common and acknowledged by teachers, students, and parents alike. While conducting training of Safe Schools in 2003, the children were asked to conduct a mapping exercise of the school campus and report back the three most important threats. In Puri, Odisha, a group of children reported that on number one, in their list, were snakes in the classroom. In a similar exercise in Tanjabur, Tamil Nadu, some weeks later, the children responded with the main threat being the elephants breaking down the boundaries or walking into the school grounds during recess. The next question was “what do you do to reduce or eliminate that threat?” All the students in all grades in the schools knew how to address or reduce the threat. Human beings respond to stimulus based on reactions of the nervous system. The response will be retained and the individual will almost always respond to the threat with a series of learned behaviors that will reduce the threat. After conducting hundreds of these activities throughout India, the conclusion reached was that a “Safe School program” should be initiated with a mapping exercise naming the threats and possible solutions.
