Crimes on the children seeing a sharp rise in the district, the District Magistrate Dehradun SA Murugesan met the representatives of some private schools on Friday and asked them to ensure security of the students both in the schools as well as in the vehicles which transport them to the schools and back home.
He said that the safety and security of the school students being paramount, the school authorities must be alert while hiring private vehicles to ferry the students to the schools and taking them back home. “The antecedents of the owners, drivers and others of such vehicles must be checked thoroughly before they are selected for the purpose,” he said while citing incidents of school children being subjected to molestation and the like while they are in such vehicles. “We must take all steps to stop recurrence of such crimes in the future,” he stressed, adding that such vehicles should under no circumstances be allowed to carry students beyond the permissible capacity limits.
He further told the school representatives to ensure that the students are safe and secure within the school premises. “For this, CCTV cameras should be installed at places in the campuses as well as in the vehicles used for their transportation. Besides, the school authorities must be alert while allowing visitors in the schools. The children must be handed over to their guardians only,” he said.
DM Murugesan also directed the assistant transport officer present at the meeting to ensure that the school vehicles used for ferrying students must abide by the guidelines laid down by the administration. He reminded the chief education officer who was also present of his role in ensuring security and safety of the school students.
Among others present at the meeting aside from the school representatives were the additional district magistrate Arvind Pandey and DSP Rakesh Devli.