Teachers in one part of the US state of Texas are to be allowed to carry concealed firearms when the new school term opens this month.

The school superintendent in Harrold district said the move was intended to protect staff and pupils should there be any gun attacks on its sole campus.

Teachers would have to undertake crisis management training first, the superintendent, David Thweatt, said.

In recent years the US has seen a number of fatal school shootings.

Trustees had approved the policy and parents had not objected, Mr Thweatt said.

“When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that’s when all of these shootings started,” he wrote on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s web site.

Mr Thweatt said he believed the school’s proximity to a large, busy motorway could make it a target.

“If something were to happen here, I’d much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them,” Mr Thweatt said.

Texas outlaws the presence of firearms at schools unless individual institutions allow them.