As the news of gruesome murder of a student of Sapphire International School, Vinay Mahto, spread like wildfire, management of other schools started redrawing parameters to ensure safety even as security at the renowned school failed to ensure that and added a complete profiling of faculties before hiring them into one of the criteria to prevent children from abuse like the 12-year-old was subjected.
The 12-year-old boy was reportedly sodomised before he was brutally thrashed and his head was punctured to silence his voice. Although, the reputed school is equipped with CCTV cameras and a vigilant guard maintains a close eye over movements within the school’s premises, the boy fell prey to the diabolical actions of a few.
“This is a serious issue. Here, we can say that security failed to ensure safety of students. What needs to be done to ensure safety now is that a teacher should be subjected to psychological tests to ascertain his mental condition before he is hired for job. Equipment alone cannot guarantee children’s safety,” said Principal of Sai International School, Ranchi, AC Jain.
Schools admit that security on their premises allays fear about any untoward incident yet the ghastly incident has opened their eyes making them contemplate evolving a new mechanism that strengthens bond between parent-teacher-student; promotes information sharing between student-parents, student-teachers and parents-teacher.
“Counseling of teachers is need of the hour. So is for students and parents. Children being shy in nature most of the time do not disclose their feelings what happens with them in schools. There is a need to make parents aware about their role also,” added Principal of Oxford Public School, AK Singh.
Interestingly, a circular from Central Board of Secondary Education mandates all affiliated schools to abide by the guidelines mentioned in Prevention of Children and Sexual
Offences Act (POCSO) and also stresses on training teachers and staffs to monitor misconduct of fellow teachers and staff.
Meanwhile, the incident has sparked parents’ forum which is likely to move the High Court with a public interest litigation (PIl) seeking details about security measures taken within school and hostel premises.
“There are guidelines for safety but there is no one to look into compliance. We, therefore, have decided to approach the High Court with a PIl and would seek complete details of safety and security measures taken by all schools on their premises,” said Secretary of Jharkhand Parents’ Association, Ajay Rai.
State coordinator of CBSE Manohar lal expressed that safety concerns would be put up for discussion in a routine meeting with affiliated schools likely to be called in the next month.