A 16-year-old student was electrocuted and two others were injured when they came in contact with a live electric wire while installing a flagpole for the inauguration of a sports meet at a government school in Chikmagalur district last month. The accident has appears to have woken up the government to the issue of safety, or the lack of it, in schools.
Survey
The Department of Primary and Secondary Education has begun a survey of its schools to identify electric poles within school premises. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar told The Hindu that the ministry had instructed the Block Education Officers (BEOs) across the State to collect information about school premises where there were electric poles and wires.
Letter to Ministry
Mr. Ratnakar said a letter conveying this had been written to the Ministry for Power and Energy. “As the Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) holds the Energy portfolio, we have urged him that the cost of shifting the poles and wires be borne by that department,” he added.
Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) Managing Director Pankaj Kumar Pandey admitted the need to undertake the exercise. “As part of our safety drive, we have already identified vulnerable places and schools with transformers. So where there are lines running close to houses, we will replace them with aerial bunched cables. Where the right of way is a problem, we will take the lines underground. In schools, transformers will be shifted out wherever possible. If not, we will fence them and put up signboards, danger signs.
We do not mind footing the bill because safety is an important issue and it is part of Bescom’s duty,” Mr. Pandey said.
Meanwhile, thousands of school students continue to be under threat till such an exercise commences. Anupama M., a Class 7 student of Kendriya Vidyalaya at NAL campus in Jeevan Bima Nagar here, said there were no poles within the school campus. But they were not told specifically to avoid touching wires hanging loose from poles, she said, raising questions about awareness among the student community as far as handling electric equipment is concerned.
The matter is doubly important to students who are visually challenged. As Baladev K., an inclusive education teacher, at The National Association for the Blind, Karnataka branch, said, these precautions have been imparted to their students through the mobility training.
