The district police is coming up with a comprehensive child safety plan that will cover, among others, safe conveyance to school and safety measures on school premises.
Answering a question about safety of children going to school in autorickshaws at the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes grievances meeting here on Tuesday, Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police S.D. Sharanappa said the process of preparing a child safety plan following the directions of the State government was under way. This plan included the safety of children coming in autorickshaws and schools vans.
Talking to reporters later, Mr. Sharanappa said the police were looking at having ‘suraksha samitis’ in schools where students could complain about harassment. They would also consider installing closed circuit cameras in schools.
The police would look at the space available on school premises to park vehicles coming to drop children, and maintenance of a register with names and details of persons entering the school.
Mr. Sharanappa said he would meet with police officers of the district and other stakeholders to bring out a comprehensive safety plan.
Earlier in the meeting, an activist asked the police to take action against autorickshaw drivers who carried more than the permitted number of children in their vehicles. Another activist said the people were forced to send their children in autorickshaws as many schools were situated in areas where buses did not ply. “If we want restriction in the number, autorickshaw drivers will hike the charges for transporting a child,” he said. Currently, parents were paying around Rs. 800 per month, he said.
