Why Every School Needs School Liability Insurance Now?

Education is one of the most important growing industries worldwide. The industry includes schools, kindergartens, universities and all the staff involved. Teachers play a significant role in the industry and are responsible for imparting expert knowledge and experience to their students. Although providing educational services as a teacher or a school comes with some liability risks.

These school liability risks can lead to lawsuits and massive reputation damage. Additionally, a minor mistake, negligence, or unethical action can jeopardise the school’s future. Therefore, the education industry needs to have the best liability protection against these school risks. Hence, most schools purchase school liability insurance. The article will discuss possible liability risks and how they are covered by insurance.

What is School Liability Insurance?

School liability insurance is a specific professional liability coverage that protects schools and employees from professional risks while performing their duties. Sadly, no one is safe from a lawsuit, not even much-loved teachers. There are many things that can go wrong when running a school with countless students and teachers.

These risks can include educational negligence, defamation, employee troubles, administrative disasters or out-of-school liability risks. School liability can reduce the impact of these risks and hefty lawsuits.

What Risks Does School Liability Insurance Cover?

Defamation

Teachers and schools have a huge responsibility when educating students, especially young, impressionable students. It is very easy to offend someone/group by saying something wrong by mistake. Hence, teachers are careful about what they say and teach about certain topics to avoid defamation. On the other hand, teachers are at risk of being a victim of defamation too. Students can easily lie and spread false information that the teacher did or said something wrong/offensive. A small lie can ruin a teacher’s reputation, and they may file a defamation case against the student and the school.

Defamation cases in a school are taken very seriously against a student or a teacher. As it ruins someone’s reputation and causes personal emotional damage. For example, A teacher can be granted compensation damages if students falsely accuse the teacher. A teacher can sue the school for not helping him avoid harmful defamation. 

In cases like this, the school should assist the teacher in his defence and may have to take legal action against the student for ruining the school’s reputation. School liability insurance will provide the school and teachers with legal defence and compensation. The defamation case can be against a person, group, or brand. The insurance will help the school protect itself and its employees from such claims.

Negligence

Proving education is a service that involves schools, teachers, and students. Like in any industry, there will be errors and mistakes. Small mistakes, like teaching the students wrong facts, can be corrected easily. However, big mistakes can have a more serious outcome. These large mistakes are also known as acts of negligence or breach of duty. They include errors like poor staff management, teaching offensive information, not keeping an eye out for bullying, or accidently injuring a student.

In most cases, the teachers and the school will be held liable and may be sued. Parents could believe the teacher or the school’s negligence caused harm to their child and other students. For example, a mom sued a Malaysian school for RM 2 million (HKD 4 million), alleging that the school did not take any action against bullying, which caused her daughter serious emotional damage. The school will be responsible for paying a commission to the student and may suffer a large reputation and financial loss.

Negligence cases can arise from staff, parents or even students. The school will be responsible for defending itself and, as it was its duty, to avoid such incidents. The school board often may not know about the possible negligence and may be shocked. At this point, school liability insurance will help the school pay for defence, compensation, and settlement costs. Of course, errors will happen, but a school should be ready to face them, big or small.

Loss Of Private Documents

Any school, from kindergartens to universities, deals with a large amount of important information and applications. It’s the school’s duty to ensure each application gets equal attention and is stored correctly. An application can affect a student’s future, and one mistake with an application can ruin the student’s chances and may harm their future. 

For example, there have been cases where schools have lost important results belonging to a graduating class. The school will have to pay a hefty amount to fix this problem, inform students, third parties and compensate for the loss.

Thus, in such cases, the school liability insurance will assist the school by reimbursing the amount spent to fix the loss of private documents. The costs could include informing third parties, commission, and possible legal fees. In addition, the insurance company will also pay for expenses related to the leakage of confidential information. Such a situation can be rare, but it could happen to any school or educational institute and be expensive to fix.

School Employee Malpractice

As important as the students are in a school, so are the employees/ staff. The team of teachers, board and additional staff helps the school run. There must be a duty of conduct to regulate how employees act and how management deals with junior-level staff. Each school should have a strong HR department, employee handbook and procedures that guide hiring, disciplining, or terminating employees.

Breaking the duty of conduct or miscommunication can lead to lawsuits from employees against the school and the accused party. Misconducts include sexual or racial discrimination, unprofessional behaviour, sexual harassment, etc. For example, a teaching staff member could sue her manager and the school for discrimination if she was threatened that her referral letter might contain false negative comments if she attempted to secure a new job.

Accordingly, the school board is liable for ensuring its employees are safe and applying correct employee practices. In such cases, the school liability insurance will be a great asset as the insurance will pay legal defence and settlement costs. Each employee is as important as the other, and each employee deserves to feel safe working in the school.

Out-of-Class Liabilities 

Unfortunately, school liability risks don’t only exist in the classroom or school. A school is almost always liable for its students and their safety. Their liability also extends to school trips, extracurricular activities, school buses, and anything else under the school’s control. Additionally, the school may also be responsible for their students’ safety online if issues (cyberbullying) are brought up by parents.

Therefore, if a student is injured physically or mentally during these times, the student or parents will have the right to sue the school for negligence, for not taking the right actions (even if it wasn’t on the school premises). For instance, if a student is injured or even temporarily lost during a school trip, the parents can sue for negligence and lack of supervision.

In many cases, it may not even be the teacher or the school’s fault– kids have a mind of their own. Parents and students will blame the school for anything wrong under their supervision. Thankfully, if the case escalates, the insurance will pay for the legal costs and possible commission. The insurance will be the school’s finest strength when things go wrong and are costly to move past.

What Schools Need School Liability Insurance?

Every school can and should purchase the insurance policy, from kindergartens to universities. Even if you are a small or local school, this insurance is a must to protect your school’s liability. 

Additionally, the school liability insurance will provide the school with the financial coverage it needs when things go wrong. School budgets are already tight enough with spending on educational improvements. The insurance will provide financial cover for most claims, so the school doesn’t lose part of their budget.

Another benefit that schools will realise after purchasing the insurance is the peace of mind they will feel. The school will be able to focus on providing the best educational service and hiring the best professionals. They do not need to worry about possible claims that can arise from anywhere. Obviously, schools and teachers will still need to be careful about providing a safe and organised service.

Finally, insurers can customise school liability insurance to meet all your requirements for any school size. Therefore, if you are a teacher or school board member, you may want to check if your school has the right insurance.

To learn more about school liability insurance and protect your school and teachers, contact Red Asia Insurance.