Tamkang University in Tamsui (淡水), Taipei County, yesterday became the first university in the world to be granted “international safe school” status — a designation aimed at enhancing safety awareness and education — by a WHO-affiliated organization.
Max Vosskuhler, chairman of the International Safe Schools Committee, said at a designation ceremony in Taipei yesterday that Tamkang was the world’s first university to have “put the package of safety and health together.”
The International Safe Schools Designation Program is a project of the Peaceful Resources Center, an Affiliate Safe Community Support Center for the WHO’s Collaborating Center on Community Safety Promotion.
“This university has led the way in becoming the first international safe school with a persistent commitment to its students, faculty and everybody in their community to promote safety,” he said.
Vosskuhler said the university had met all seven requirements during the committee’s evaluation, including having a school committee responsible for making decisions for safety at the school, implementing safety policies for all groups at the university and a commitment to sharing the school’s experience with local, national and international schools.
“Signing the agreement [between the university and the committee] does not mean that a school is 100 percent safe,” he said. “[The recognition] signifies commitment of the organization to become safer.”
Figures provided by the university show some 50 schools worldwide have won international safe school status or are being reviewed by the International Safe Schools Committee.
Lee Ming-hsien (李明憲), a professor at National Dong Hwa University who plays a key role in the Taiwan International Safe Schools Promotion Center, said Vosskuhler and other International Safe Schools Committee members would over the next few days inspect Taiwanese primary and junior high schools that had applied for the designation.
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