Dharamshala: The Department of Education, CTA organised a three-day webinar-based workshop on Safety & Security in Tibetan Schools for the school Principals from 4-6 August 2022. The workshop was facilitated by NGO partner, Expressions India, a professional organization focused on Adolescents’ Mental Health & Wellbeing based in New Delhi. The resource persons for the workshop were Dr. Jitender Nagpal, Psychiatrist, Head, Department of Psychiatry, Moolchand Hospital, Delhi; Mrs. Rekha Chauhan, Senior Psychologist Consultant, Moolchand Hospital, Delhi; Dr. Rushi Tamana (Psychological Clinician), Head, Department of Psychology, Ram Manohar Lal Hospital, Delhi and Ms. Aparajita Dixit (Adolescent Consultant), Moolchand Hospital, New Delhi. 

Donkar Wangmo, head of Guidance and Counseling section stated the objective of organising the workshop and conveyed the message of Education Kalon, Mrs Tharlam Dolma emphasising the paramount importance of student safety and security and the core responsibility of school management in ensuring it takes place.

The purpose of this workshop was to sensitize the school leaders on the importance of creating a safe and secure learning environment for the students which is NON-NEGOTIABLE. The resource persons further elaborated and dwelled on length what SAFE & SECURE meant in a school setting, role & responsibilities of all stakeholders, and the common issues that threaten the safe learning environment such as bullying (cyberbullying), teasing, corporal punishment, aggression, problematic internet usage, substance abuse etc. It included prevention and intervention as well as the involvement of all stakeholders in the process of mitigation and reduction of such issues. Most importantly they discussed the process of handling situations be it crises or emergent or in general while stressing enhancing skills such as communication skills (Listening), teaching adaptive coping skills, empathy, compassion & being non-judgmental etc. 

Through this workshop, the school principals were able to learn the safety approach and the root causes of the prevalent psychological issues and the means to deal with them with the concerted efforts of school counsellors, health workers, teachers and other staff. 

The participants agreed in unison that safe and secure environment setting is where learning happens optimum and the onus of creating the environment is a collective responsibility of the school head, teachers, non-teaching staff and parents.

The workshop funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) was attended by 23 Principals (7 from TCV, 13 from STS, 2 from THF and 1 from SLF (Nepal).