Although the Department of Public Instruction has listed 70 guidelines, school managements and parents’ groups have criticised some of them for lack of clarity. Stating that the government had resorted to a knee jerk reaction, K.V. Dhananjay, advocate for the Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (KUSMA) said, “Why does the government want to impose a hundred different rules all at once, knowing fully well that some of them are downright laughable? Most of these rules are merely morally binding and are therefore, dispensable,” he said.
The guideline that each school should have a child protection committee and also lists separate responsibilities for the managements, teachers, parents, police and transport operators is ambiguous in some places. While one of the guidelines says that the school should identify physical spaces where accidents and sexual abuse could be possible, it lists no further action that could be taken.
Another guideline says that two lady teachers and two male teachers should accompany children during outdoor trips, but it does not list for how many children.
The guidelines also specify thorough background check for the staff, but leaves out teachers.
Although the guidelines specify that it would be applicable for playschools and schools whether government, aided or private ones, Mr. Mohsin said that schools would have to look into applicability. “For instance, there would be no transport guidelines for government schools,” he said.
While the guidelines specify CCTV cameras are a must in schools, Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar had recently told The Hindu that this proposal would not be economically feasible in government schools.
Gayathri Ananth of the Vigilant Citizen, a parents’ group expressed disappointment that the guidelines do not list which department would oversee playschools. “Both — department of Women and Child Development and education department — are shirking responsibility on this,” she said.
