Schools are facing 21st-century challenges. They have the responsibility to take care of students from diverse families and backgrounds and ensure that these children are kept safe and protected against the bad elements of society. At the same time, the school is part of the society and so sometimes bad things happen within the school despite best intentions. So, how can you protect your school when things go wrong?
Back in the day, information was easier to manage. Traditional media served as gatekeepers to ensure that stories that made it to the public were presented in a balanced way. Today, social media has done away with the gatekeepers. When a story breaks, the first party to make their story go viral is believed over the other parties. Add to this, the fact that many schools are not social media savvy and so have not built the necessary goodwill among social media users that will ensure that people are willing to hear their side of the story when things go wrong.
Schools need to protect themselves against vindictive parents and a judgmental society who just want heads to roll when they feel something has gone wrong without hearing the facts of the matter. The best protection a school can have is to prevent bad things from happening. While this is desirable, it is not always possible. The next best thing is to have a strong defence in the court of public opinion.
Slvr Wlf Digitale Limited and The Institute of Certified Communicators have studied the educational landscape in Nigeria and have come up with a product that will help schools prevent public relations crises, at the same time have a solid defence in the court of public opinion should a reputation crisis occur. The two organisations are collaborating to help you protect your school.
We will share more about this unique product in the coming weeks.