The Navi Mumbai police have suggested that schools in the satellite city issue Radio Frequency Identification Cards (RFIDs) to students to ensure their safety.
Dr. Sudhakar Pathare, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I), said Delhi Public School had introduced RFIDs for students travelling by the school bus. He said the cards were embedded with smart chips which would track the movement of students and register the time they boarded and disembarked from the bus. SMS alerts on the entry and exit of their wards from the bus would be sent to parents on their registered mobile numbers.
Dr. Pathare said, “Students do not have to swipe the cards. They are enabled with an automatic recognition tag. This gives an extra layer of security to students and parents will be aware of their location. It would be good if all schools can provide this facility. We have sent all schools a detailed list of security measures that they can implement to ensure students remain safe.”
The other suggestions include installing CCTV cameras at the entry and exit gates, allowing only authorised people to pick up and drop students to school, training bus drivers and conductors to handle emergency situations, locking the gates during school hours to keep intruders away, maintaining a visitors’ register, keeping shut the doors leading to water tanks and terraces, banning ragging on the school premises, and installing fire extinguishers on each floor of the school building.
Mr. Pathare said, “Appropriate action will be taken against schools under the Code of Criminal Procedure if they have been found guilty of not taking precautions despite our warnings. Police officials usually hold regular meetings with the school management on adopting security measures. But we have sent out a safety manual to schools this time after seeing the fear among parents following the Gurugram incident.”
Suraj Padvi, Senior Police Inspector at Sanpada police station, said, all police stations in Navi Mumbai have been directed to issue the instructions to schools under their jurisdiction. Mr. Padvi said, “Three days ago, we asked schools in our jurisdiction to implement the measures. The schools included Ryan International School, where protests were held on Tuesday.”
