Safety in Schools

November 14 is celebrated as Children'"s Day in India. It is a good time to take a look at the safety of our schools and what are the hazards that the children encounter.

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences and UL carried out a study/appraisal of more than 100 schools in Bengaluru region. The study was initiated in the backdrop of growing number of child deaths and serious injuries while at school in the last decade.

The study found that the physical infrastructure - building components like flooring, stairways, corridors, balconies, windows, doors and balconies were acceptable in most of the schools👍.

However the roads surrounding the schools lacked in basic safety requirements like signage, speed- breakers, pothole free pathways, zebra crossing, designated drop and pickup points. Only 17% had school zone signage and 11.5 % had speed limit signs. The most alarming was that fire safety was compromised in most schools with no emergency response plans and totally unaware of what has to be done in case of a fire. Only fire extinguishers were present in almost all of them. 

School safety is an important aspect that needs to be addressed both within the premises as well as when going out on sports or similar trips outside schools.

The government should initiate steps to have one or more teacher nominated as a Safety Officer for the school and put them through a basic training in understanding Safety and how to carry out risk assessments of the facility, persons and when taking students to outside activities.

The National Disaster Management Authority has published a National School Safety Guidelines in February 2016 which is a document schools should have on their library and implemented for ensuring the safety of the children and others who are on the premises.

Safety in Schools - Are we concerned!