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Creating Safer Schools: Lessons Learned; Strategies for Action SessionSession14a diversity of voices. If a safe schoolaspires to be a healthy system, thenit must embrace the principle ofparticipation and celebrate diversity ofviews.4. Teacher/student relationship.This is the heart of what a safeschool is about. Is this relationshipcharacterized by a mutual respect,by the teacher helping the student tothink and grow and ask questions? Isthe teacher using teaching methodsthat allow children to explore, askquestions, and to create? While thecircumstances under which manyteachers operate are demanding,this is where fostering deeperawareness of the role that teachersplay in a student’s growth have to beemphasized. By instilling pride andestablishing a culture of accountabilityin teachers, a safe school fosters ateacher/student relationship based onmutual respect.5. Accountability and responsiveness.Accountability is the hallmark of afunctioning and a vibrant system.If a child experiences abuse atthe hands of a teacher, are thereconsequences? If something happensto a student, can she count onbeing taken seriously? If things aremanaged in a way that’s below highstandards established collectively,would someone be held accountable?Does it foster a feeling in all thestakeholders that there are peoplewithin the school who care about theirexperience and who will be responsiveto their needs? A safe school providesavenues for seeking justice, activelydemonstrates responsiveness,and earns the faith of individualsthrough their regular experience ofaccountability.The default scenarioDipak Naker, Co-director <strong>Raising</strong> <strong>Voices</strong>We are competing for space in people’s heads and in their hearts.If we do nothing, the default position in society will prevail, andas a result, perpetuate itself. The default scenario is that schoolswill reproduce the power relations that exist in society. So if children aretreated as second-class citizens in society, you will see the same in schools.If conformity is valued in the society, the same will happen in schools. But itdoesn’t have to be that way. We see the potential of schools to be liberated,to be places where we break away from received ways of being and thinking.Unless we get in there, and make a clear and a compelling case for thealternative, people will continue normalizing what is essentially an unjustsystem. For a vast number of teachers, administrators and school policymakers, we need to make the bridge between the default situationand what our schools could be like. If we abandon them, they willresort to the default scenario; what is known, what is easy.24
SessionSession416. School environment. The physical aswell as the psychological environmentof a school clearly sets the tone ofa child’s experience of education.The environment in which anindividual is immersed determines theconscious and many subconscious‘messages’ a child imbibes. Eachindividual assesses their worth inany environment by asking how itprioritizes their needs; how it makesthem feel about themselves, whatpsychological climate it fosters in theirmind. Are their basic needs such asadequate sanitation provided for?Creating Safer Schools: Lessons Learned; Strategies for ActionIs the environment one that inducespride in the school? Are the wallsbare and what does that say aboutthe faculty of imagination withinthat school? In a safe school, theenvironment is safe and conducive tocreative learning.It was agreed that each of these componentsneed further analysis and reflection. “Outsideof this room, and in our own environments,we can take this forward,” Dipak Naker said.“But these are the guiding ideas. They openup paths, and we all have to walk along thepaths ourselves. But we are agreeing thatthis begins to create a picture in our mind ofwhat we mean by a safer school.”Key take-away points:1. We must have a clear idea of what a safer school isand how it relates to the quality of education. Learningoutcomes shouldn’t be measured solely in the formof exam scores, but also what capabilities a studentdevelops during the learning process.2. The quality of education experience matters because welearn our values and our place in the world through theexperience. If a child feels insecure, unhappy, threatened,she will not develop the capabilities she needs to be ableto thrive in her environment.3. A safe school is a school that has a clear purpose andbasic standards, where students, teachers and parentshave a voice, where the student/teacher relationship isbased on mutual respect, where there is accountabilityand responsiveness and where there is a safe learningenvironment.25
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