Student Safety: Whose Responsibility?
A private school in Hawalli Governorate sent a message to the parents of middle school students stating: “Two students engaged in a dangerous activity involving the deliberate pressure on the neck area, in order to test each other’s physical endurance. Although such actions and activities carry extreme danger that can threaten life, this behavior is linked to popular challenges on social media platforms or to skills they learned through extracurricular sports activities.” At the time, rescue and ambulance vehicles were stationed outside the school walls, and we still do not know what happened to the two students. The school’s message to parents stated that both were in good health. According to what students are circulating, the aggressor was suspended from school for only two days, while the victim remains hospitalized.
Deliberately applying pressure to the neck area to test physical endurance poses an immediate and direct threat to life, as the neck contains major arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the brain. This tragic incident between the two students took place in the school courtyard near the canteen. A large group of students, as well as some teachers, were standing nearby. The victim was screaming and calling for help. Why did the teachers not intervene to stop this dangerous game? Is this not a primary role of school administration?
The school administration is fully responsible for ensuring student safety while they are on campus. This responsibility includes providing a safe educational environment free from physical and psychological risks. In this context, we have the right to ask: Why was the student who violently assaulted his classmate suspended for only two days? Why was he not suspended for a week or more, and why was his parent not summoned and informed of his son’s misconduct? Is it really the case that parents are not summoned to the school to discuss their children’s misbehavior, and that the administration merely reprimands them through the social worker and imposes a two-day suspension?
There is a Kuwaiti law stating: “If negligence by the school causes material, physical, or moral harm to a student (such as a serious injury due to supervisor negligence or poor maintenance of facilities), the student’s guardian has the right to claim financial compensation from the school.” Kuwaiti law also stipulates that: “Supervision of the student effectively transfers to the school during official working hours and activities.” Under this principle, the responsibility of the state (in public schools) or school owners (in private schools) directly replaces that of the teacher to ensure compensation for the victim. In my opinion, this is the optimal solution for the current situation in schools.
Dr. Bahija Bahbahani
