Patna: District magistrate (DM) Kumar Ravi on Friday convened a meeting with representatives of more than 50 private schools and ordered them to take every possible step to ensure the safety of their students.

Ravi stressed that students' safety should be dealt on a priority basis and it was the duty of the schools to be prompt on safety of students inside and outside the campus.

Representatives of most prominent schools such as St Michael's High School, Notre Dame Academy, St Joseph's Convent High School, Mount Carmel High School, Don Bosco Academy, St Xavier's High School and Delhi Public School among others attended the meeting. Ravi reminded them about the earlier order of previous DMs to install complaint boxes for students and guardians.

"There should be a complaint box on the school premises, where students and guardians can drop complaints. The school management should have the key to the box and if possible, shoot the opening of the complaint box on video. Take appropriate action on complaints," the DM said.

Ravi iterated the issue of installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on the school premises and depute a person to monitor the system. He ordered installation of CCTVs in schools wherever not installed. In the last meeting, two schools had been ordered to shut after being found not following security norms in their respective premises.

To deal with cases of fire, the Patna DM asked the school management to keep all equipment to minimise chances of disaster. "Even school teachers must be trained in using fire extinguishers. Every school should be ready to tackle emergencies. The school should organise training with the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force every three months," Ravi said.

Orders were also issued on installation of global positioning system (GPS) devices on school buses. "The registration of schools, which do not have GPS-enabled devices on their buses, will be cancelled. It is duty of the district transport officer to check the buses of every school on whether they have emergency doors or not. Every school must have contact details of their drivers and conductors," said Ravi, adding that police verification was a must for all of their non-teaching employees.

During the meeting, the school management assured the Patna DM of lending their support to the human chain event on January 21.