After a gap of nearly two weeks, the high profile Vibgyor school in Bangalore East, where a six-year-old student was allegedly raped by a skating instructor, re-opened on Monday under the watch of parents who visited the premises to satisfy themselves with the arrangements being made to ensure the security of their wards.
The incident that led to widespread protests had forced the management to take safety measures like installation of CCTV cameras at vantage points under the guidance of the Bangalore police.
The school reopened on Monday for students of Classes 5 to 10. From Wednesday, all classes from Class 1 will commence. The decision to reopen was announced on July 24 after a three-hour meeting of about 200 parents with the school management.
Bangalore had witnessed a slew of protests after the shocking incident came to light. The earlier Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar also faced the heat and was replaced by M N Reddy.
The skating instructor, Mustafa alias Munna, was arrested and is now in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, the parents have submitted to the management a set of 40 guidelines. The school was to put in place 11 of them for reopening the school and other measures by September 12, as they involve additional resources and logistics.
The Government under fire also issued fresh safety guidelines to all schools in Bangalore including Government-run schools to protect the children from any untoward incident.
The guidelines include installing CCTV cameras in all classrooms, playrooms, restrooms, labs, library, teachers’ room and at vantage points covering the entire school premises, including the playground. The schools have to employ adequate women security guards after background checks and will make profiles of all those employed on contracts for non-curricular and non-academic activities.
A parent in anguish welcomed the reopening of the school but said he was crossing his fingers till everything is brought in order. He said, “I am happy the school has re-opened. I am only worried over the management’s commitment to adhering to the safety norms”.
On Sunday too, nearly a hundred parents, accompanied by officials from the education and police departments, visited the school premises to check the security arrangements made by the management.
After the incident, the Bangalore police had also issued new security guidelines to city schools which include installing GPS and CCTV cameras in their buses, not allowing bus drivers to mingle with children and issuing identity cards to all those who come to pick up children. "I am issuing an order to all schools under the Karnataka Police Act to implement certain guidelines. If they don't follow we will charge them under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code," Bangalore Police Commissioner MN Reddi said last week.