Norway: Oslo schools fitted with terror alarms

Hovseter school in Oslo was one of the first to have a terror alarm installed

Schools in the Norwegian capital Oslo are installing alarms to warn pupils and teaching staff in case of terrorist attacks, it's reported.

Classrooms are fitted with flashing lights on walls, and there are also loudspeakers which will tell pupils whether to stay put, move to another part of the building or evacuate. Through the speakers, the head teacher's message will reach all classrooms, the school grounds and even the toilets, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reports. The system can also put the school in lock-down mode to prevent unauthorised access.

The first terror alarms are being rolled out at 70 schools across Oslo this year, and by 2017 all 180 of the city's primary schools will have them. The decision was prompted by deadly school shootings in the United States, and closer to home in Germany and Finland in recent years, according to Evelyn Angell Veglo, headmistress at Hovseter school. Her school is one of the first to have a terror alarm fitted. "The world is a different place now, and we must deal with it," she says.

In 2011, Norway suffered its worst act of violence since World War Two when Anders Behring Breivik planted a car bomb in central Oslo, then went on a shooting spree at a youth camp on nearby Utoeya island.

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