A reality check to various private and Government schools by this correspondent in Jagatsinghpur on Friday revealed that no foolproof security arrangements were in place in many private schools.
To begin with, this correspondent reached at the Sudhananda Vidyalaya near Gandhi Chhak here. I was stopped by the security guard who was busy in his mobile phone. He asked me whom to meet, and I simply queried presence of the principal and he replied in the positive. He said the principal was in his office and allowed me to go. Ironically, the security guard did not ask me to furnish my identity proof, nor bothered to check my credentials.
After entering the school, one woman guard who stood next to the principal’s chamber stopped me, interrogated about my visit and after a few minutes, she arranged a meeting with the principal.
My discussion with the principal was on safety and security arrangements of the school and the principal informed that there were three security guards working in the school including a few lady staff deployed to take care of the children.
On verification, it was found that the school had been functioning since 2000 having 470 students from nursery class to tenth class. The school possess adequate infrastructure, spacious class rooms, playground, own building, toilets for both girls and boys and separate lavatory for the staff. Principal Bansidhar Das said that district Collector Yamini Sarangi’s two kids have been admitted in the school this year.
Then this correspondent reached another prominent school, the Dream India School near Gopalsagar here. Finding an entry into the school was not a problem as there were no security guards.
There was no entry register, neither strict vigil on the outsiders. This correspondent roamed freely inside the school for over 10 minutes, interacting with a few students and guardians. later, I met school principal Haraprasanna Rout who informed that the school has no security guard.
There are 386 students reading in several classes under CBSE pattern. Surprisingly, the principal was unaware about the safety and security guidelines issued by the CBSE on September 12 after the Ryan School incident.
In two other public schools, more shockingly facts were found. One is situated on a busy road and auto rickshaw drivers were found parking their vehicles near the school boundary. Both the schools had no security guards and cripple by inadequate infrastructure. Having strength of 400 students, the Jagatsinghpur Public School has three toilets and no fire extinguisher. The St Xavier School, an old private school having 550 students, is still running in a rented house. Principal Saroj Kumar Padhy said two security guards are working but this correspondent found no security guard deployed at the gate.
later, a visit to a reputed Government school in Court Chhak here also revealed similar lapses. This correspondent entered into the premises without any hassle. The Government school was found not to be serious about safety and security of the children reading there.
Asked about the rampant lapses of safety norms in schools, District Education Officer [DEO] Kapilendra Mishra said that as many as 27 private schools are functioning in his jurisdiction and they would be asked to strengthen the safety factor as per directives of the State School and Mass Education department. He, however, was evasive on if safety rules too would be stringently followed in the Government schools.