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Regular-article-logo Sunday, 06 July 2025

Fresh rules for school safety

Meeting today to revise guidelines

Our Bureau Published 11.12.17, 12:00 AM

Krishnagar: The government will hold a meeting on Monday to prepare fresh guidelines on students' safety at schools, education minister Partha Chatterjee said. The move follows an alleged assault on a four-year-old at GD Birla Centre for Education.

"The matter (of students' safety) bothers us all. We have already issued directives to the schools. This concerns all schools, not any particular type of schools," Chatterjee said in Krishnagar on Sunday.

"The directives include installation of closed-circuit TV cameras, hiring of female attendants at girls' schools and for the buses that ferry students. I will hold talks with officials at Nabanna on Monday on all these aspects and prepare fresh directives."

The minister made the comment when asked what steps his department would take following the alleged sexual assault on a child by two teachers of physical training at GD Birla Centre for Education on November 30.

The state government had earlier issued a set of guidelines for the schools. "It wants to include some points, such as those related to installation of CCTV cameras on school buses and regular interactions between the school authorities and the parents to discuss safety issues. Monday's meeting at Nabanna will also discuss ways to enforce the guidelines," an official in the school education department said.

The earlier guidelines were issued on October 26 following the death of a Class II student at Ryan International School in Gurgaon. The child was found murdered an hour after his father had dropped him to the school.

The guidelines issued in October call for separate toilets for boys and girls, and for school employees and visitors. "Wherever possible, schools will provide CCTV cameras in all vulnerable areas and will ensure that such cameras are working all the time," the guidelines read.

The junior and the senior sections of GD Birla Centre for Education came under CCTV surveillance only last week.

Lack of CCTV footage has left police struggling to verify the allegations that the two accused teachers had lured the four-year-old to the washroom by offering her chocolate before assaulting her.

The October guidelines also ask the schools to constitute "students' safety and security monitoring committee", which will act on complaints of assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

The government has made it clear that steps "may be taken... if gross violation of these guidelines is found".

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