Students of the Tiên Điền Primary School join an extra activity in the central province of Hà Tĩnh. Students’ safety during extra activity should be considered the most important work. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Ngà

HÀ NỘI — Accidents when students participate in extracurricular activities happen almost every year despite the best efforts of the education and training sector.

Recently, two students died during extracurricular activities, including one who drowned in Bình Dương Province, while one died and two others were injured on a roller coaster in Ngọc Đảo Xanh tourist area in Phú Thọ Province.

Bùi Văn Linh, director of the Department of Political Education and Student Affairs under the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), said: “The ministry always considers ensuring school safety as an important political task”.

He told Thanh Niên (Young People) newspaper that in the last five years, some 20 legal documents such as decrees, circulars, instructions and directives have been sent by the MoET to provincial People's Committees to urge them to ensure students' safety.

Last year, after a 12th grader in Sóc Trăng Province died in an accident due to a bicycle fall during a trip to Đà Lạt City, the ministry called for an emphasis on the education of life skills, self-protection skills and observance of regulations for students when participating in practical activities.

It was necessary to work with parents to manage students in outdoor activities, Linh said.

“Although we have completed a legal corridor quite fully to minimise risks and create the best prevention, some painful cases still sometimes happen,” said Linh.

Phạm Xuân Tiến, deputy director of the Hà Nội Department of Education and Training, expressed regret about the case of one student being killed and two others being injured on a roller coaster in Phú Thọ Province during the picnic.

Notably, in 2014 roller coaster accident also happened in Đảo Ngọc Xanh tourist area. Twelve high school students from Hà Nội were playing on the Ferris wheel when the carousel fell to the ground from a height of two metres, causing six to be lightly injured.

Tiến said that after this incident, the department emphasised clearly the need to ensure safety.

Phan Thị Thắng, who worked for more than 30 years as principal of a primary school in Hà Nội, said: “When building plans for extracurricular activities, the safety factor always comes first. First of all, it is necessary to choose safe locations and the administrators and parents' representatives must personally go to the scene for a check."

She added that before each trip, students should be reminded carefully about the rules, which always emphasise that they must follow the group and the instructions of teachers and guides.

Many experts have said that security at schools should be viewed in a more scientific way.

In Việt Nam, school safety assurance is often carried by deputy principals and teachers, without any real safety expert. Teachers are responsible but lack skills in accident prevention and risk assessment. VNS