Parents of Izhevsk beg to strengthen security: “How to let a child go to school”

According to updated data from the Sledkom of the Russian Federation, as a result of an attack on school No. 88 in Izhevsk, 17 people died, including 11 children and four adults. 24 people were injured – 22 children and two adults. Parents from other schools and kindergartens in Izhevsk filled up the head of the Udmurt Republic, Alexander Brechalov, with complaints about inappropriate security. They are afraid that the children’s institution where their children go may be the next in a series of similar tragedies.

Parents of schools and kindergartens in Izhevsk, shocked by an armed attack by a mentally ill person on an educational institution that led to a huge number of victims, beg the head of the Udmurt Republic, Alexander Brechalov, to strengthen measures to protect their children in educational and preschool institutions.

Here is what Brechalov’s mother, whose son studies at school No. 11 of Izhevsk, points out: “Please take measures to close the perimeters of schools, add video surveillance so that the guards at least see who is behind the front door! The door to the school is closed during lessons, but knock on it and the guard will just open it. And that’s all. Come who wants! And yet – is it possible to allocate a patrol of the teaching staff to bypass schools and kindergartens during school hours? A real patrol is more serious than Chopov grandmothers.”

Parents claim that in the schools and kindergartens of the region, “PSCs are really grandparents – pensioners!”, and ask them to “take real measures”, otherwise they are afraid to let their children go to educational institutions.

“School No. 50 – there is a metal detector, but it doesn’t work, everyone is allowed in! – complains the mother of a student of another school. – They ask – where are you going, you say that you are in such and such a class, and you calmly pass! On the watch there is an elderly guard and a woman watchman. All!”.

An equally deplorable situation, judging by the testimony of the inhabitants of the region, is with kindergartens:

“My child goes to Kindergarten No. 92,” one of the mothers said. “There are no buttons, no special equipment, nothing, but how to protect children from such tragedies is incomprehensible!”

“Kindergarten No. 99, Izhevsk,” continues a mother named Albina. – There is a fence of one and a half meters, which you can step over! Security is also a private security company – grandparents. The doors are flimsy. There are no cameras. Where are your vaunted “measures” taken after the tragedies in schools and kindergartens? They did not teach our officials anything, there is absolutely no protection for children!”

Residents report that in kindergarten No. 131 (building 3) “both gates are always open” and ask to “strengthen security measures!”.

“MK” contacted one of the worried mothers, Elena K., whose children study at another school in Izhevsk, and she told how, in the opinion of parents, the security of schools and preschool institutions should be strengthened. With these proposals, she turned to the head of Udmurtia:

– We need doors with reliable bolts from the inside. On the ground floors, there are necessarily bars on the windows, which can only be opened from the inside. For the duration of each lesson, close the door with a bolt from the inside! There should be an alarm signal so that in every office it is audible that an emergency has occurred. A guard with a weapon, a high fence around the perimeter of the school! In the gardens, install strong, closed, invisible fences, with security right at the entrance, and not inside the kindergarten – you need to protect the areas where children walk. You can enter smart keys to open the gate.

To those residents of the city who expressed the opinion that “the school in this case will be like a prison,” Ekaterina from Izhevsk objected: “Tell that to those who lost their child today! It’s better to let the school look like a military unit from the outside, but it will be safe inside.”

At the same time, skeptics do not believe that enhanced security will help prevent such tragedies 100%. They express the opinion that a mentally ill person, as it was at school No. 88, will not be prevented from coming and meeting children who are en masse going or leaving an educational institution behind a fence: “At rush hour, you can do something different, children go out in classes and the guards won’t help.

Another mother believes that “we have a lot of police and National Guard employees, and therefore with their help it is possible to provide every kindergarten and school with good security.” “Children are the most valuable thing we have. Direct all forces and means to protect them!” the woman pleads with the authorities.

Today at 18:00 (local time) there was a minute of silence at the entrance to school No. 88. The educational institution invited everyone to honor the memory of the victims and lay flowers at the site of the tragedy. “This is a tragedy not only for the whole of Udmurtia, but for the whole country,” the school wrote in a public post. Three days of mourning has been declared in Udmurtia since today. Across the country, people organize spontaneous memorials in memory of the dead. Muscovites bring flowers and toys to the representation of the Republic of Udmurtia; in Izhevsk – to the building of the very school where the tragedy occurred today.

Read also: “Neighbors called the Izhevsk shooter “unsociable”