THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the coming academic year, schools in the state will come out with a school safety action plan for ensuring the safety of children. The action plan, which is expected to address natural hazards of geological or climatic origin, man-made risks as well as transportation and other related emergencies, is being chalked out as part of the School Safety Policy 2016, formulated by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
It is learned other than the action plan, schools might also have to designate a school safety focal point teacher (FPT) to anchor safety-related actions at their level as well as a cadre of peer educators or trainers for ensuring safety messages and protocols reach every student. “The state has decided to implement the School Safety Policy 2016.
A meeting will soon be convened by the Disaster Management Secretary in which school management will be briefed about it. The Directorate of Public Instruction has been asked to inform school management about the meeting,” said an officer with the State DMA. The officer said as part of making school managements better understand the policy, the process is on to translate it into Malayalam. It will be distributed among them during the meeting.
“There is no exception. Private and public schools are bound to implement the policy. To ensure this, a state-level committee on school safety has been constituted with Disaster Management Secretary as chairman and secretaries of Education Department, LSGD, PWD, Child Rights Commission and others as members,” said the officer.
In September, the MHRD Secretary Anil Swarup had written to the Chief Secretaries/Administrators of states and Union Territories asking them to take all requisite measures to implement the School Safety Guidelines. Swarup also said all the DEOs of a state/UT may be nominated as nodal officers for ensuring adherence of the aforesaid guidelines in all the schools including CBSE affiliated schools.
Following the same, the Deputy Commissioner of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samithi and Deputy Secretary of CBSE instructed the schools under it to implement the School Safety Policy. It was in February 2016 the NDMA released the National School Safety Policy Guidelines, making it applicable to government, aided or private, irrespective of their location in rural or urban areas.
Committee formed
For the plan’s implementation, a State-Level Committee on School Safety has been constituted
The 9-member committee is headed by Disaster Mgmt Sec
The policy mandates SDMA needs to work closely with the State Education Department
Policy recommends
Formation of a School Safety Advisory Committee to advise the Edu Dept on the subject
Asking each district to designate the Block Education Officer or any other officers, for overseeing and facilitating school safety at the block level
Making the School Mgmt Committee responsible for taking on safety agenda at the community and school level
Nomination of a school safety focal point teacher at the school level
Ensuring each school identifies and develops a cadre of peer educators/trainers for ensuring safety messages reach each and every student
SCERT should generate the content for training on school safety at all levels and also develop child-friendly teaching material for teachers and students to engage them on school safety issues
School Management Committee should review and regular update the action-plan being prepared by a school, on a quarterly basis