Bhubaneswar: The Child Welfare Committee of Khurda district has asked all the block education officers of to ensure child safety measures at the schools and institutions with residential facilities.

Schools need to conduct an independent risk assessment of their physical premises by building boundary walls, having security in place at entry points, adequate lighting and security in isolated areas of the premises and segregation of the boys' and girls' toilets.

Besides, the guidelines also made antecedent verification of teachers, staff memberss and other service providers such as school bus operator mandatory before allowing them to access the institutions.

In August 2016, a four-year-old student of a private school was allegedly raped in the school toilet at Gangapada in Chandaka police limits by the school bus driver.

Though the accused was immediately arrested, the incident has raised question of safety of schoolchildren on the school premises. The Child Welfare Committee had also conducted an inspection of the school after the incident.

"The government had asked the schools to comply with the guidelines within two months of issuing the guideline. But four years have passed since the guideline was prepared. A number of schools pleaded ignorance about the guideline when we did a review recently. So we have directed the block education officers to ensure that the schools implement these guidelines. A review of progress of implementation of the guideline would be conducted in one month," said committee member Benudhar Senapati.

The guideline also said the schools needed to display the child protection protocol at a prominent place on the premises along with the contact details of designated child protection officers.

"The school authorities must respond to the incidents of sexual abuse and report the matter with the agencies concerned, including the police. The school authorities must conduct regular follow-ups of the guidelines," said Senapati.