All day care centres and play schools in Ernakulam should get their unique identification number from the Department of Social Justice before July 13.
An order issued by District Collector K. Mohammed Y Safirulla here said that the violators will face action under clause 51 (B) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Those institutions which fail to take the identification number will not be allowed to function, it said.
The order observed that the revenue/police officials could not collect proper registers, address, phone numbers of the parents of the children of Kidz World play school in Maradu when they met with the accident and later taken to the hospital. Two children and a helper of the paly school were killed after the school van fell into a pond near Maradu on Monday. The efforts to reach out to the parents of the children were hampered following the lack of such details, it said.
The authorities pointed out that other institutions in this category were also committing lapses by not taking adequate precautions to avert such accidents. The day care centres and play schools could take free registration from the Social Justice Department as part of getting the unique identification number, according to the order. The management of Kidz World play school clarified that they have a proper register of the names and contact details of the parents.
A register was also available in the school van involved in the accident. The teachers who were present at the hospital could not provide the contact numbers to the authorities on the spot as they were not having it in their mobile phones. But it was provided without delay from the database available at the school, they said.
