More so now than ever before, security in schools has become critical. We so often hear of threats of violence and service delivery strikes near schools. Every school is faced with the challenge of being ready to manage emergency situations that may threaten learners’ and staff’s safety. By having an excellent access control system you can make your school a safe environment to be in. Here are five reasons why you should consider upgrading your school security system.

Give access rights to specific staff members

An access control system would allow your administrator to give access rights to certain facilities to specific staff members only. Several schools  still rely on physical keys for access to the premises and its facilities. While there is nothing wrong with keys, having several physical keys for access to different classes in the school can be inconvenient – especially for teachers who need access to different classrooms. Upgrading to a school access control system is much simpler, as all your staff members can use one access card to every classroom and other facilities of your school. 

Manage a multi-building system from one location

One of the challenges of managing security at a large school is when you have to manage access to more than one building. If a staff member loses his or her keys in building A but your security office is in building B, they can’t be let into the office until security arrives, for example.

Modern access control systems offer multi-location management, which means you can control an entrance in building A from the security office in a different location. This can also help you decrease the number of security officers you need on the site. You don’t need to have a security officer in every building, but you can have one officer monitoring the system from one location. 

Secure your entire school with the press of a button

The reality of today’s world forces many learners and teachers to worry about threats that one shouldn’t need to think of in a school environment. Not only can this cause stress and anxiety in learners, but thinking about these things can make school less of a fun learning environment. While most schools have some sort of lockdown procedure — where the entire school can move to one place of protection until a threat is dealt with — this often involves teachers and students gathering in a facility that needs to be manually locked. This puts the students and teachers in some form of risk, as members of staff may have to approach a door in order to ensure it is locked.

Modern  security systems make it possible to lock down your whole school in an instant, which creates a secure  environment instantly without putting any members of staff at risk.

Integrating access control systems with surveillance video

While surveillance camera systems are very efficient at monitoring movement, the downside is that there’s not much else they can do besides that. For instance, if you have a CCTV surveillance system at your campus and someone broke in overnight, it could take your security officers quite some time to figure out how the intruder accessed the building, as they may have to go back and watch hours of tape. Modern access control systems allow you to integrate your surveillance video equipment with the access system itself for top-notch, multi-faceted security. 

Preventing inappropriate behaviour

Getting an excellent security system can help the school be on the lookout for suspicious or inappropriate behaviour at all times. Apart from ensuring that staff members and learners are not put in uncomfortable situations, a modern security system can help your school ensure that incidents such as bullying do not take place.

Gone are the days of relying on lock-and key security. Getting an access control system in your school is one of the best investments you can make, as you will get a high-tech and a modern security system that is easy to manage.