CHANCELLOR OF JUSTICE AS THE PREVENTIVE MECHANISM children with special educational needs due to behavioural problems”. However, the legislation regulating the operation of special schools, or the daily practice in special schools, has not yet been brought in line with the principles highlighted in the concept. The following part contains problems not pointed out above and specifically relating to the activity of Kaagvere Special School. The inspection revealed that Kaagvere Special School did not have a seclusion room meeting the requirements established by the Minister of Social Affairs Regulation No 33 of 8 February 2002. Thus, it is not possible to apply the measure under § 62 of the Juvenile Sanctions Act to place a child in need of pacification in a seclusion room. In view of the profile of children referred to the special school and the fact that they spend 24 hours a day on the school territory, the risk of self-injury or violence against other persons is significantly higher in special schools as compared to mainstream schools. In order to help resolve dangerous situations and allow secluding a dangerous pupil from others and pacifying them, the legislator has provided for a possibility to place a child in a safe room meeting all the health protection requirements until their pacification. The absence of a room conforming to the health protection requirements in a special school is dangerous because in case of a situation endangering the health of a child or of others it is not possible to safely isolate the child until the arrival of the ambulance. This endangers the safety of the child as well as the safety of other pupils and school staff. In order to avoid endangering the health of children and school staff, resources for furnishing a room conforming to health protection requirements in the present building of Kaagvere Special School should be found, or an alternative plan for resolving cases endangering the life and health of children or school staff should be drawn up. It should also be taken into account that in resolving such cases the rights or children posing the danger or the right of other children and school staff to a safe school environment may not be restricted disproportionately. On this basis, the Chancellor recommended that the Ministry of Education and Research as the operator of the school, in cooperation with the director of the school, should ensure the safety of children and staff in the school. For this, the Chancellor recommended furnishing a seclusion room conforming to all the health protection requirements in Kaagvere Special School or drawing up in writing an alternative plan on how to resolve the cases endangering the life and health of children or school staff without secluding a child who poses the danger. As already mentioned above, Kaagvere Special School does not have a seclusion room conforming to health protection requirements. Thus, seclusion of pupils under § 62(1) of the Juvenile Sanctions Act should not be applied in the school. At the same time, during the interviews several pupils claimed that for violations or attempts of escape they had been punished by seclusion to the stairway between the first and second floor of the school. Pupils claimed that they had spent from a few hours to several days in the stairway behind locked doors. One pupil claimed that she had stayed overnight under the stairs. For this, she had been brought a bed from her room. The director of the school admitted that in exceptional cases pupils had been secluded in the stairway. The director justified this with the absence of a seclusion room and the need to seclude for some time a pupil who had violated the rules from the others. Interviews with pupils revealed that locking in the stairway was used rather as a punishment for an attempt of escape or violation of order, and not as a measure for avoiding an immediate threat of self-injury or violence against others. The legislator has not granted the special schools the right of secluding a child for purposes of punishment. Even if Kaagvere Special School had a seclusion room meeting the health protection requirements, secluding of children in it to punish for escape attempts or violation of order would not be lawful.35 35 The conditions for secluding children are established in § 62(2) of the Juvenile Sanctions Act, under which a pupil may be placed in a seclusion room if there is an immediate danger of bodily harm to themselves or violence toward other persons and verbal appeasing has been insufficient. 63