The Directorate of Education, in accordance with the recommendations of a high-level committee for ‘school safety’, has come out with a 117-point “school safety checklist” designed to encapsulate the minimum standards of school safety.
All heads of schools have been instructed to follow “zero tolerance” against any violation and constitute a school safety committee within 15 days.
Safety committee
According to the circular, the school safety committee will comprise the head of the school, four students, four parents, one senior teacher, one primary teacher and one member from the non-teaching staff and have a balanced representation of male and female members.
The committee will have to meet every month and the minutes of the meeting will be maintained and made available for record so that during parent-teacher meeting, the filled out check-list can be inspected by all parents.
The Directorate of Education will also design an online portal for all its schools to fill a compliance report on a monthly basis.
Complaint boxes
The school safety committee has also been instructed to undertake a ‘monthly safety walk’ of the entire school premises as well as respond to safety suggestions/complaints that come in via complaint boxes that are to be kept at prominent locations in all schools.
Action must be taken on queries/ complaints/ suggestions within 15 days of opening of the suggestion boxes, says the circular.
Schools have been instructed to maintain CCTV camera footage for 15 days unless an incident is detected, in which case, the records are to be kept till the enquiry is completed by the investigating authority.
