Safety education should start from a young age (Insights from foreign primary school safety education for China)

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To their parents, a child is a bud on the verge of blooming； In the eyes of teachers, they are young eagles ready to take flight; the safety of these children concerns each of us. Providing effective safety education for school students has far-reaching implications. Primary school students are the hope of the nation and its future; they possess great malleability and potential. \"Educating one student can benefit an entire family and influence society as a whole.\" It takes ten years to grow trees but a hundred years to nurture people; school safety education must be carried out step by step, with students receiving safety education from an early age in order to develop a sense of safety among them. Therefore, safety education in primary schools is a matter of great importance for the whole country. However, according to a survey conducted in 2008 by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security, and the China Children’s Press and Publication Group among 10 provinces and municipalities including Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, approximately 10,000 primary school students die under abnormal circumstances each year in China, with 80% of these deaths resulting from a lack of safety awareness and poor self-protection skills. With social development, various new situations, changes, and contradictions continue to emerge, making the factors affecting the safety of elementary school students increasingly complex and posing an unprecedented threat to the safety and stability of schools. Therefore, strengthening safety education for primary school students and improving their safety awareness is an important task before us. Some developed countries such as the United States and Japan regard safety education for elementary school students as a fundamental aspect of safety efforts, and it has distinct features in terms of both content and format; this can serve as a useful reference for China in strengthening safety education for elementary school students. I. United States: The integration of schools and community forces. In 1983, to honor a missing child, the United States designated May 25th as \"Missing Children’s Day\" to remind people that \"the safety of children is a matter of national importance.\" Since then, May 25th of each year has been designated as Children’s Safety Education Day in the United States. The United States **believes that ensuring school safety is a systematic effort. Therefore, the United States has established preventive measures to enable schools to receive efforts and support from various parties, including education administrative departments, public security and judicial agencies, community organizations, and student parents, with an emphasis on forming a collaborative effort with other social forces. The safety education program that is carried out throughout the year in many cities across the United States is called “Safty Town.” It is organized jointly by elementary schools, police departments, fire departments, and public services agencies such as those responsible for electricity and animal control, and each session lasts 5 days. The Summer Safety Town camp is aimed at children who are about to enter preschool or first grade. Children who sign up will learn during this summer camp about safe cycling, fire safety, the use of helmets, child safety seats in vehicles, safety around water, bus safety, walking safety, electrical safety, train safety, knowledge about poisons, safety related to animals and individuals, as well as how to use 911 properly. Safety education in schools, which are the main places where elementary school students go in and out, is naturally also very important. The United States **requires schools to conduct regular fire drills*, campus shutdown drills*, and weather-related drills*. Towards the end of the semester, the school conducts a survey among students to ask them how safe they feel at school, which locations/activities they consider to be \"high-risk areas,\" and to see if they understand the school’s expectations regarding their safety. II. Japan: Integrating safety education into all aspects of primary school education. In Japan, school education mainly comprises various subjects, moral education classes, and special activities. Among these subjects, physical education and health classes serve as the core courses for delivering safety education, which is a notable feature of safety education in Japan. Physical education classes here are not simply courses that teach sports knowledge in the traditional sense; they also include important aspects such as safety and health care. In the primary school stage, the focus of teaching safety-related topics in physical education classes is on \"preventing injuries.\" The specific content taught varies by grade; for example, in grades 3 and 4, the lessons are centered around \"daily life and safety,\" covering topics such as daily routines, personal hygiene, physical development, and food safety. In addition to physical education classes, Japanese schools also take every opportunity to teach safety knowledge and skills within the instruction of other subjects, as well as in moral education and comprehensive studies*. In practice, teaching is tailored to the content and characteristics of each subject. For example, moral education focuses on fostering a respect for one’s own life and the lives of others, as well as cultivating a spirit of abiding by laws and regulations, helping one another, showing kindness, and possessing a sense of public morality ； The comprehensive learning* schedule is determined based on the specific conditions of each school; safety-related topics are developed, or safety education is carried out using real incidents that have actually occurred ； In subjects that involve practical activities or experiments, specific guidance is provided regarding safety-related clothing, behaviors, equipment, etc.; especially in natural science subjects that are closely related to safety, careful and thorough guidance is given. Japanese schools use class meetings as the main platform for conducting safety education. Weekly class meetings provide an excellent opportunity to foster students’ attitudes toward real-life situations, to transform knowledge and skills into practical abilities and habits, and to develop their self-education skills. Therefore, during class meetings, teachers often set themes related to life safety, traffic safety, safety precautions in case of disasters, respect for life, environmental issues, etc., to engage in discussions with students, and provide various forms of safety guidance. Regular school activities such as sports meetings, traffic safety lectures, disaster prevention drills, and spring outings are also good opportunities to provide safety guidance. The school provides safety guidance through these group activities; it also regularly organizes traffic safety lectures and evacuation drills, allowing students to participate in practical exercises and experience the measures to take in case of emergencies such as fires, earthquakes, or unauthorized individuals entering the school. When organizing such events, relevant personnel and volunteers in education work are invited to participate, thereby enriching the content and format of safety education. They also noted that although these activities represent good opportunities for safety education, they are also when safety accidents are most likely to occur; therefore, it is necessary to develop thorough plans in advance. On one hand, this encourages students to participate in the activities, while on the other hand it helps to foster in them the habit of following rules. Safety guidance is also provided during the preparations before the activities and the cleanup work after them. III. Insights and Measures For a long time, the ****, the State Council, and the Ministry of Education have attached great importance to safety education for minors, and the whole society has also paid close attention to this issue. Documents such as the Compulsory Education Law, the Code of Conduct for Primary School Students, and the Regulations on Safety Management in Primary and Secondary Schools and Kindergartens set clear requirements regarding the value of life and the need to pay attention to safety. However, due to the emergence of many new characteristics and situations in school safety work, overall, safety education for primary school students in our country is weak, and there are still many problems. Abroad, the safety education systems for elementary school students are quite well-developed; the safety education programs for elementary school students in the United States and Japan each have their own characteristics, which can provide valuable insights for China, which is working to strengthen safety education for minors. First, thoroughly implement the Guidelines for Public Safety Education in Primary and Secondary Schools. In 2007, the Ministry of Education formulated the \"Guidelines for Public Safety Education in Primary and Secondary Schools.\" The main contents include six modules focusing on preventing and responding to issues such as social safety, public health, accidental injuries, the Internet, information security, natural disasters, as well as other accidents or incidents that affect students’ safety. The aim is to help students understand the basic knowledge and laws and regulations related to protecting individual lives and maintaining public safety, to foster a strong sense of safety, to properly handle the relationships between an individual’s life and oneself, others, society, and nature, and to learn methods for ensuring safety as well as acquire relevant skills. The \"Outline for Public Safety Education in Primary and Secondary Schools\" provides guidance for safety education in primary schools, offering detailed regulations organized by stage and topic, thereby ensuring that such education is systematic, sustained, and goal-oriented. Secondly, emphasis should be placed on the **combined efforts of departments and social organizations. Article 47 of the Regulations on Safety Management in Primary and Secondary Schools and Kindergartens stipulates clearly that departments such as education, public security, judicial administration, construction, transportation, culture, health, industry and commerce, quality inspection, and press and publication shall establish a joint meeting system to regularly discuss and plan school safety management efforts, and to maintain order in the areas surrounding schools in accordance with the law ； Through various channels and methods, listen to the opinions and suggestions from the school and all sectors of society regarding school safety management. ”Schools can collaborate with various departments and social organizations to carry out a variety of safety education programs, working together to ensure effective management ； Places frequented by elementary school students for play, such as communities, parks, and tourist attractions, can also be promoted through posters and informational brochures, thereby creating a situation where schools and society work together in education. Finally, schools, teachers, and parents in our country should change their mindset and provide students with ample, free space to move about, on the basis of ensuring safety. Looking at practices abroad, elementary school students do not live in enclosed, safe and hazard-free environments; it is by interacting with the outside world and nature that they can develop a sense of safety and the corresponding skills. According to surveys conducted in several primary schools in Germany, students who were more encouraged to engage in sports not only developed stronger athletic skills but also experienced a lower incidence of accidents. Therefore, schools and parents should ensure that students have sufficient time and space for activities, allowing them to experience firsthand what is dangerous and what is safe. At the same time, detailed safety plans should be established, and safety reminders should be given at appropriate times, along with safety education.