BENGALURU: A day after a leopard was caught prowling on the premises of the Vibgyor High school, some parents decided to play it safe and not send their children to school.
Though the animal was captured after a ten-hour operation late Sunday evening, when the school reopened on Monday morning, it saw a 20 per cent dip in attendance.
School principal Roshan D’souza confirmed that some parents have not sent their kids to the school on Monday, while some others dropped their wards on their own. “Some parents discussed the safety issue with us. We have ensured safety for the children and we are also in discussion with the forest department officials about more measures to be taken.”
If the incident had taken place on a week day, the impact would have been more serious, as it would have created panic among children, and the forest department officials would have had a tough time managing the situation.
Though a large number of schools have come up on the outskirts of the city, which once used to be rural and forest areas, they do not have any standard operating procedures in place to deal with such situations.
Vibgyor High has a dedicated disaster management team for emergencies like accidental fire, but it does not have any experience in dealing with wild animals straying into campus. “We never experienced such a situation before,” Roshan told Express. He said chances of animals entering the campus is much less on weekdays because of the crowd and tight security.
“It happened on Sunday when the security personnel were few and the campus was silent,” he said.
Other Schools on Guard
Following the Vibgyor incident, other schools on the city outskirts have decided to keep themselves ready.
Prithvi Banavasi, founder of Roots Academy, said there are many apartments coming up near their campus. This reduces the chances of wild animals straying. But to be prepared for such situations, the school has high compound walls. “We are planning to install drums to scare away wild animals,” Banavasi said.
Vinu of The Valley School, located near Turahalli reserve forest, said, “We have kept ourselves prepared much before the incident occurred. We are also in touch with the forest department
officials.”
The principal of Sri Vidya Kendra, in Machohalli, is confident of the safety measures on the school. “We have been here for the past seven years. No such incident has ever occurred. Since this is a residential area, there is no chance of wild animals coming near the school,” he said.