CHANCELLOR OF JUSTICE AS THE PREVENTIVE MECHANISM during the search several of them had been asked to take off the sweatshirt and the shirt, leaving them only in underwear above waist. One pupil claimed that she had been feeling particularly awkward during the search as a male staff member had been present in the office with an open door. The director of the school did not affirm the claims of the presence of a male staff member in the office with an open door during the search, but admitted that she had not been present during all the searches. On this basis, the Chancellor proposed to the director of Kaagvere Special School to discontinue searching of pupils without a legal basis. In case of a reasonable suspicion that a pupil is trying to bring prohibited items or substances to the school territory, the Chancellor recommended asking the assistance of the police. The Chancellor recommended to the Minister of Education and Research to consider amendment of the Juvenile Sanctions Act, so as to give certain staff members of special schools the right to search, under certain conditions, pupils and their belongings. During the inspection it was found that in 2009 Kaagvere Special School had drawn up the school development plan for 2009−2013. The development plan has been approved by the school staff meeting as well as the school’s governing council. However, the operator of the school (i.e. the Ministry of Education and Research) had not established the procedure for approval of development plans of special schools and had not provided its assessment of the development plan drawn up by Kaagvere Special School. Kaagvere Special School also lacked an approved development plan at the time of the inspection visit on 29 November 2006. Already then the Chancellor of Justice drew the attention of the school management and the Minister of Education and Research to this. On this basis, the Chancellor recommended to the Minister of Education and Research to establish a procedure for approval of development plans of special schools and, in line with the procedure, provide an assessment of Kaagvere Special School development plan for 2009−2013. The inspection also revealed that in organising the daily life of the school, the internal rules made available on the school’s website were not observed. Instead, the organisation of school life was based on the new internal rules which were being drawn up but which had not yet been approved by the school’s board of trustees or the school director. Children at the school were also explained the internal rules which had not yet been approved in line with the requirements of the law. At the same time, on the school’s homepage, the internal rules approved by the order No 1-4/57 of the school director on 9 November 2007 had been made available for parents and other interested persons, although these rules were not used as the basis for the organisation of the school life. Such a situation did not enable pupils, staff and parents to foresee with sufficient certainty the rules to which the life in Kaagvere Special School is subjected in practice. This, in turn, could result in different solutions to similar situations and, thus, unequal treatment of persons. According to the interviewed pupils, such a situation caused confusion both among pupils and parents, as parents had access to the approved internal rules on the school homepage while pupils were already being familiarised with the new draft rules. The absence of clear and uniform school rules also caused difficulties in the daily work of the staff. Many of the interviewed children noted that different staff members reacted differently to similar situations. According to the children, due to such different reactions they often felt that they were being treated unequally. In addition, the pupils with Russian as their mother tongue also pointed out that the new draft internal rules were available only in Estonian. On this basis, the Chancellor recommended to the director of Kaagvere Special School to observe the currently valid internal rules in organising school life and post the valid rules for pupils in a visible place both in Estonian and Russian. The Chancellor also recommended to the director of the school to observe the requirements of the law in establishing the new internal rules, i.e. consult with the school’s board of trustees as well as the pupils’ representative board prior to the adoption of the rules. In disclosing the new internal rules after their adoption the Chancellor recommended to the director to observe the requirements under § 69 of the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act. The Chancellor also recommended to the director to make the new internal rules available in Russian. 65