Florida shooting survivors’ surprise visit to Dubai forum
The “Davos of Education” began in Dubai yesterday as some of the world’s most prominent educators, thinkers and celebrities spoke of the power of learning and the opportunities it can bring young people.
From the need to protect the arts and humanities at a time when great focus is on science, to bullying and the rise of social media, the event drew large crowds on the first day of the Global Education and Skills Forum at Atlantis.
The summit began on a sombre note as three survivors of the Parkland, Florida high school massacre last month told of the moment a former pupil burst into school classrooms and began firing.
The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history, killing 17 and wounding 17.
It has also led the young survivors to campaign strongly for stricter gun control and protests outside the White House.
“It is something that should not ever happen – it’s something that needs to be stopped,” Lewis Mizen, 17, told the audience.
“These shootings have gone down as statistics now. We need to stop being desensitised to it. We need to start looking to stop it before it happens, don’t prepare for when it does.”
The education forum also heard from celebrities including X-Men star Nicholas Hoult, Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron, F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and Kingsman actor Taron Egerton. Although Egerton plays a tough James Bond-style action hero in the hit film series, he revealed yesterday that he was badly bullied in school.
“It was awful,” he said. “I was really terrified. I didn’t want to go to school.”
But he was helped by a teacher who was “like a superhero”.
F1 star Hamilton also spoke of a difficult time in school, adding that he was “always behind and trying to catch up” and in detention “constantly”.
The forum continues today and culminates with the annual $1 million Global Teacher Prize this evening.
The award is intended to celebrate a profession that is often underpaid and under resourced.
Among the finalists are educators who have worked in some of the toughest schools and under the most difficult of conditions, and others who have brought innovation and technology to capture the minds of young people.
“Hi Mum and Dad. I’m at school. There is an active shooter on campus. I am safe.”
That was the message Kevin Trejos sent his parents on the afternoon of February 14, when a former pupil opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The attack would become one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history, killing 17 and wounding 17.
Yesterday, Kevin and two other survivors of the school were guests at the opening plenary of the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai.
“It was scary,” said Kevin, 18. “There were people crying. We didn’t know where the shooter was. We didn’t know if he was coming to our classroom next. We need to improve school safety.
He said the pupils were not trying to ban guns “because we understand it’s practically impossible to do”.
But they do want to limit access to guns for criminals.
The pupils took the stage in front of thousands of educators and policymakers for a question session on gun violence and its effects on education and youth.
For Kevin, that day began like any other. There was a fire drill in the morning that the pupils and staff completed successfully. Then, in the afternoon, the alarm sounded again.
“As we walked out of our class to go to our designated spot, we started hearing screams saying, ‘Code red, code red, get in the classroom, go, go, go’,” he said.
Although he did not know that code red meant there was a shooter in the school, Kevin followed his teacher’s directions and was ushered into a closet to hide along with others.
Twenty minutes later, the teacher received confirmation that a shooter was on campus.
“We were all trying to console each other while we were there,” Kevin said.
At that point, he decided to contact his parents to let them know he was all right.
“I didn’t want them to be fearing for my life while I was at school and they were at work,” Kevin said. “Once I got the confirmation, I thought, ‘I can’t let them find out on the news. They have to find out from me.’ I sent them a message.”
It was almost two hours before a Swat team entered the classroom where Kevin and others were hiding to guide them to safety.
Since that day, Kevin and his classmates, including Suzanne Barna and Lewis Mizen who attended the plenary yesterday, have been campaigning for gun reform in the US.
The pupils and victims’ families have successfully lobbied their state legislators in Florida to sign The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.
Last week, pupils at thousands of schools across the US walked out of their classrooms to protest gun violence in solidarity with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School community.
We didn’t know where the shooter was. If he was coming to our classroom. We need to improve safety KEVIN TREJOS School shooting survivor
On March 24, organisers say, more than 500,000 people are expected to take part in March for Our Lives in Washington, DC to rally for gun control.
“Teachers are there to educate their students. They shouldn’t have to serve as the first line of defence between them and a rampant gunman on campus,” said Lewis, 17, a British pupil.
“It is something that shouldn’t ever happen, it’s something that needs to be stopped. These shootings have gone down as statistics now. We need to stop being desensitised to it. We need to start looking to stop it before it happens, don’t prepare for when it does.”
The pupils are campaigning to increase the minimum age people can buy a long gun to 21 years and reduce the amount of bullets that can be loaded into a gun at once.
They also want to expand the scope of background checks on prospective gun buyers to ensure the weapons do not land in the hand of criminals or the mentally ill.
“We want to limit the accessibility of guns to criminals and potential criminals, and we want to make sure that once they get their hands on those guns, they find it very difficult to fire indiscriminately,” said Kevin.
Suzanna said she and her peers acknowledged that gun reform would take time, but they were willing to keep up the fight for as long as it took until schools were safe.
Asked what the educators and policymakers could do to help, she replied: “One of the most important things that can be done in general is to support the youth, support their voices.
“If they’re trying to speak out, give them the platform to speak and give them the opportunity to advocate for a cause that they are passionate about. They can make a difference.”