Zagreb, 23 December 2024 (Hina/MIA) — Croatia's Education Minister Radovan Fuchs said the focus of Monday's meeting on school security was on immediate measures, such as locking schools and changing door locks to prevent them from being opened from the outside, following the death of a 7-year-old girl who was killed Friday in a knife attack at a school in Zagreb by a 19-year-old former student, who also injured three other children and one teacher.

"Today we held the first meeting, focusing on short-term, essential, urgent measures we can implement immediately to ensure that the second semester starts as planned, after the school holidays," Fuchs said after the meeting.

The minister again expressed condolences over the tragedy at Prečko Primary School. He said the incident was not a terrorist act that should cause concern about a similar incident happening in another school but that the meeting did discuss ways to enhance security in schools.

"One of the measures we will seek immediately is the strict implementation of existing legal regulations, specifically that schools must be locked. This measure was never abolished. Similarly, there should be a staff member present at the school entrance, and schools must implement their existing protocols," said Fuchs.

The minister noted that the first draft of safety guidelines and protocols would be discussed at the next meeting on Dec. 30.

"Regardless of whether the school is locked or not, the locks must be changed so that the doors can be opened from the inside but not from the outside, and people can only enter the school if someone lets them in," he said.

He added that most primary schools in Zagreb already use this method for entry and added that these entry control and locking measures would give parents and children a sense of security.

Responding to questions about security guards, Fuchs said there were many pros and cons, and that past experiences "have not been ideal," but he confirmed that schools would be allowed to hire them if they insisted.

Fuchs also pointed out that schools across Croatia vary in terms of the number of students, entrances, schoolyards, and sports fields, meaning that a tailored approach to security issues is required.

In addition to short-term measures, an analysis of all schools in Croatia will be carried out, along with an evaluation of the best technical solutions for security, such as video surveillance, public address systems, access cards, and the like.

The security of school playgrounds and sports fields, which can sometimes be misused by individuals like hooligans or drug dealers, will also be addressed, added the minister.

The commission tasked with drafting proposals for basic security measures in schools includes representatives of school principals, the City of Zagreb, trade unions, the Ministry of the Interior, the state-owned security company AKD, civil protection, and psychologists. rml/mr