After the mass shooting in Örebro, the government is moving forward with proposals to strengthen school safety.
The sense of security in Swedish schools has unfortunately deteriorated over time, says Education Minister Johan Pehrson (L).
The government is proposing 300 million kronor in 2025 for security-enhancing measures in schools. The funds must be applied for by the schools and can be used to, for example, install lock systems or other technical solutions for surveillance.
New Security Chapter
In addition, the schools will receive 68 million kronor permanently as a result of the proposal. For the remainder of 2025, the supplement will be 53 million kronor.
A completely new security chapter will be introduced in the Education Act, which sets requirements for all schools to have an emergency plan so that everyone knows how to act in an acute situation, through training, planning, and practice, for example, in lockdowns.
Schools will also be given the right to search bags for prohibited items. This will apply to the entire compulsory school and also to adult education. If weapons are suspected, the police should be called.
Obligation to Report to the Police
On the other hand, it is not proposed that all schools should be locked, which was discussed after the mass shooting in Örebro. It will be up to each preschool and school to decide how to best ensure that unauthorized persons do not enter the school area, for example, through locked doors, access cards, code locks, and tags.
Another proposal is that the principal will be obliged to make a police report if it can be suspected that a crime has been committed by a student in connection with school activities. However, this should not apply to "petty" crimes.
Much of the legislative proposal builds on the school safety inquiry presented last year. The goal is for the changes to come into effect on July 1 this year.
