BHUBANESWAR: The School and Mass Education department is mulling departmental and criminal proceedings against school authorities as well as education officers at block and district levels who fail to ensure adequate measures for safety and security of students.
The move comes in the wake of reports that a number of schools at the elementary level are yet to take safety measures and draw up a disaster preparedness plan.
Many schools have also failed to follow the Government order of keeping the gates closed from 10 am to 4 pm to ensure that children don’t go outside of the premises during class hours and untoward incidents are avoided. The directorate of elementary education, which had earlier asked the district education officers, block education officers and other officials to instruct school authorities to follow safety and security plan for children has requested them again to ensure that the Government, order is followed by all institutions strictly.
“Any deviation from the guidelines will be viewed seriously and departmental proceedings along with criminal proceedings initiated against the erring officials and employees,” the directorate stated in the letter issued last week.
As per the order of the Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA), schools must ready school safety plan and disaster preparedness plan at their level and keep first-aid box and fire extinguisher. They also need to ensure safe drinking water facility on the school premises.