Mumbai: When Neelam Shah heard about the brutal killing of a primary school student in Ryan International School in Gurugram, she immediately wrote to the school where her two sons study. “The school replied giving details and assured me about the safety of my kids.” Not content to take their word for it, Ms. Shah went to the school herself to check.
Ms. Shah is not alone. Parents all over the city are putting pressure on schools to step up security; some have even begun regularly visiting their children’s schools to verify this personally.
Divya Nayak, mother of an eight-year-old, says that she didn’t send her daughter to a school picnic because of safety worries. “Every day we hear of such cases.” Chitralekha Mhatre is a staunch advocate of technology; aids like cameras, detectors and panic buttons are necessary, she says, and need regular preventive maintenance.
School administrations been jolted into reappraising their systems and fixing flaws. Barely monitored CCTV cameras are being checked and fixed, staff are being trained, and administrations are actively reaching out to parents to reassure them that measures are indeed being taken.
The Vibgyor group of schools says it has 4,489 cameras across its 25 institutions and buses; the vehicles have GPS and RFID systems, says Rustom Kerawalla, founder and chairman, and there is a portal that tracks them. “We are following all safety and security systems. Our wards are not allowed to leave the school or go anywhere without the staff.” While Vibgyor’s custodial staff is already 80% female, a letter to parents says that it is in the process of replacing male staff with female wherever possible.
Francis Swamy, principal, St. Mary’s School and St. Xavier’s School, says, “This is a kind of wake-up call for all the schools.” Fr. Swamy says that though his schools are boys-only, most of the custodial staff is female, and “they have been here for years: I don’t believe in contract staff.” There are also 200 CCTV cameras monitored by a dedicated team.
Some schools are now not allowing bus staff into the school premises, and contractors are being warned to get their personnel vetted. A south Mumbai school’s head of transport says that drivers and attendants are being trained not just in how they behave but also to keep an eye on the activity around them. “Senior staff are monitoring the buses, and reports have to be sent regularly.”
