Commentary: Has Singapore reached a ‘when, not if’ moment for school attacks?

THE SECURITY PARADOX

School security is not only about preventing an attack. A school must be safe but also feel safe for it to function as a school.

The perception of a threat creates pressure for visible action. Once the learning environment is organised around fear, security begins to defeat its own purpose.

Mandatory bag checks and school drills against assailants may reassure students and parents that the danger is being taken seriously. Yet these same measures can make the threat feel more immediate. 

Active-shooter drills, like those practised by millions of American students each year, illustrate this paradox: They may prepare students to respond during an attack, but they also require children to repeatedly imagine that a gunman could enter their classroom, which could institutionalise anxiety.

This underpins Senior Minister K Shanmugam’s response that we cannot “turn every school into a garrison”. Children should not be in an environment designed to remind them that they could be attacked.