It always takes a tragedy for us to stop, in despair, mid-track in our busy everyday lives and ask what went wrong? The incident I speak of is the unfortunate death of the eight year school boy, who was crushed to death by a roller on school premises.

Having a son of similar age this tragedy left me stunned and speechless. It got me thinking as to how safe are our schools? With regards to the sad incident the only question that keeps coming up is why were these children not supervised?

Where were the teachers? Children can be naughty, they can be playful, they can be daring, it’s in their nature to explore and be mischievous at that age. So to blame the child is a futile conclusion.

But the latest school tragedy did have my “motherly” senses on overdrive and I must say I was at school quite earlier than expected to pick up my precious children.

You might say a little excessive, but as a mother you never take chances when it comes to your off-spring. So how as parents can we ensure that our precious bundles of joy that we drop of at school in the morning will be safely looked after during the course of the day and be there all happy and in one piece when we come to pick them up in the afternoon?

In my books there are no excuses, on the schools part, if something were to go a miss. I hand over responsibility to them and they have to take that responsibility seriously not for one particular child but for everyone, for a child might be a statistic to the school, but to their families they are the end and be all.

Here are a few ways of making sure your child is safe at school:

1.    If your school is fortunate to have an active Parents - Teacher association, then you are indeed one of the lucky ones. The PTA is an excellent forum for the parent to be involved in the day to day running of the school.

From the safety aspects to the education to what they are serving in the canteen you can voice your opinion and be thoroughly knowledgeable about how the school is prepared to handle certain tricky situations.

2.    If you are choosing to send your child to an international school then like any choices you make from choosing carpenters to restaurants, get recommendations from friends and relatives.

By talking to friends whose children already attend these schools you can find out the schools policies and procedures and how it fits in with your wants and needs for your child.

3.    At the start of the new school year, with new teachers and different classrooms, try and speak to the teachers about their plans of actions with dealing with a fire alarm, bullying on the playground or late pick ups of children.

I mention this because my smaller children are left in class with a teacher until I arrive, whilst my older children are allowed to come towards the school gate or wander around the school, which always leaves me a bit nervous for their welfare.

For I feel, these are the situations where a younger child could get bullied by an older, or an inquisitive group of kids could quite easily get into some unforeseen trouble. In these cases I always ask the child to wait at a certain point rather than loiter around the school.

4.    If your child is old enough, teach them about ways of being safe during school hours. Teach them about not playing with school property, to always stay in the sight of a teacher when on the playground, never talk to strangers outside the school gates etc.

Get them to memorize your contact number so that they can call you at any time if there is an emergency.

5.    Sometimes you might not be aware of a problem at school, since our children are very lax when telling you about school activities. Make it a routine to prompt them about their school day once they are home.

If something they say sounds irregular do not hesitate to inquire from the teacher for some clarification. It doesn’t have to be a song and dance, just a gentle clarification will suffice. After all, your child’s best interests are also important to the teacher in question.

Children fall and cut their knees, there is inadvertently a fight over a best friend and tears are shed, these are everyday characteristics of school life.

As a parent you hope the cut on the knee is not too deep nor the wounded feelings over the momentary best friend lost, you can’t really put your children in a bubble and protect them from the perils of life.

You can only show them the way and hope for the best. Thus school –time encompasses much of your child’s day and it is imperative that they strive to ensure the safety of each child.

By Mayuri Jayasinghe