Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Mar 18: A meeting on safety of children attending educational institutions was held at the police community hall on Tuesday, March 17 morning. The meeting, which was chaired by city police commissioner, S Murugan, was attended by management representatives, professors, teaching staff and others numbering around 500.

The police gave the gathering an exhaustive list of guidelines to be followed and precautions to be taken towards ensuring the safety of the children attending the schools, in the light of incidents which of late have raised question mark on the safety of children.

The draft guidelines discussed are as follow:

The school buses are run by private operators. A male and a female school staff should compulsorily accompany these buses from the point of pickup to the last point of dropping off of students. None of these vehicles should exceed the number of passengers as permitted by the transport department.

Every vehicle should be fitted with GPS equipment, and the schools should ensue that they are in working condition always. The educational institutions should ensure that the vehicle drivers possess valid driving licences, and their past and other details should be got verified through police department and a report from them should be collected.

Each bus should be provided with CCTV. One CCTV should be fitted inside the bus, while the other should be faced outwards from the door. Both these CCTVs should be functional always.

The schools should enter into a written agreement with the bus owners to the effect that owners of school vehicles will be entirely responsible for any mistakes or legal offences committed by drivers of school vehicles. The registration certificate,fitness certificate, tax card and IC of individual vehicles should be valid.

School managements should place restrictions on the movement of vehicle drivers by making sure that they remain inside their respective vehicles, do not move about unnecessarily in the school premises, and particularly do not speak with students or engage in unnecessarily activities. The drivers should never behave in such a way that can negatively impact the dignity and self respect of children.

Only the teachers/supervisors entrusted with specific duties should be present in areas like playground, swimming pool, laboratory, dancing hall, library, gymnasium etc. It should be made clear that people not connected with the activities do not enter these areas.

It is mandatory for all school vehicles to have at least one lady staff, who should be on duty till all the children alight the vehicle.

CCTVs should be provided at all entry points to the school including small gates. All the classrooms, gyms, swimming pools and other such areas should be covered by CCTV except wash rooms.

There should at least one female swimming trainer and gym instructor. In addition, a woman supervisory teacher should be posted.

No classes should be held under any circumstances after 6 pm. Even in case of competitions, annual day etc, events should be concluded before 6 pm and children should be sent home.

Cell phone numbers of class teachers, headmasters, attendants, and bus staff should be provided to parents of students without fail.

A welfare committee for school children presided by the school principal should be formed in every school. The committee should have at least four female members, and it should meet every month to ensure that no untoward incidents occur in schools.

Awareness should be created on regular basis among school staff, security personnel,and other workers about rights of children, gender discrimination, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act etc.

When security agencies are engaged to provide security at schools, only agencies recognized by the government should be hired. At the time of appointing security staff, their details and past should be got verified through police stations.