Last Monday, the country woke up to the news that around 100 government, Church and private schools had been the target of bomb threats.

Emails received concurrently indicated that there were explosive devices that had been placed in schools in what appeared to be a strategic attempt to disrupt the proceedings of a normal school day.

This forced the evacuation of schools, with some parents ending up taking their children back home, not to mention the traffic chaos that ensued in the vicinity of schools where the threat had been received. Searches by the authorities yielded nothing, and a few hours later the schools could resume with their teaching programme.

It has been reported that the emails were generated from a foreign IP address. Police investigations are ongoing, and it is hoped that the perpetrators are caught and brought to justice, although we understand that this is a complex probe which is not easily resolved.

Still, such an incident does bring to the fore the need to have more security in our schools. Unfortunately, the kind of world we live in has left nowhere safe. People with ill intentions come up with different ways by which they can launch their attacks, and often their aim is to create fear by targeting what for civil society is the normal way of living.

We have seen it happening abroad. Apart from schools, public occasions such as music concerts, sport events and other mass gatherings have been hit by attacks, which on occasion have led to deaths and many other people getting hurt.

Last Monday's attack, although it turned out to be just a hoax, should open the eyes of the authorities to the possibility that schools are easy prey to people who want to cause disruption or worse. It is sad to think that we have arrived at this point where children attending a normal day of school are involved in such incidents which, no doubt, are a cause of great concern to their parents and guardians. It also adds more strain on the school staff, including teachers, who already have enough on their plate without having to think about the possibility that the schools could be attacked by unknown individuals.

Over the years, more precautions have been taken to render schools safer for children, and also for the staff. But this safety level must be increased so as to, as much as possible, keep staff and children in a secure environment while parents and guardians have their minds at rest that their children are being taken good care of.

In this respect, the idea that head-teachers should set up search teams to look for bombs when such threats are received appears to have been already discarded. The Malta Union of Teachers rightly objected to such a measure, given that teachers do not have the necessary training or expertise on such measures. The government has explained that it was never its intention to impose this on teachers.

Instead of this, ways should be found to keep schools - government, Church and private - safer without involving educators. Last Monday's threats passed without incident except for the disruption, but what happened should not be taken lightly.