The environment in which students gain knowledge shapes their mind and personality. A secure atmosphere in educational institutions such as schools and colleges is vital for students’ well-being. A safe environment helps students focus on academics, acquire important skills, build healthy relationships with their peers and boost their confidence. To foster a secure and nurturing environment, India’s Ministry of Education has directed all states and union territories to implement measures that will enhance the safety of students, especially girls, in schools. The government has called for the involvement of the school management and staff, parents and students to ensure a safe and supportive educational environment.
Schools and colleges in the Mumbai suburban region, for example, have been instructed to take numerous steps to ensure children’s safety. The directives to be followed by schools include:
- Employing female staff in vans, buses and other vehicles used to transport children to and from school.
- The compulsory installation and maintenance of CCTV cameras in schools.
- Creating awareness among women and girls in educational institutions about emergency helpline numbers such as 181 and 1098.
- Employing female sanitation workers to maintain cleanliness in girls’ washrooms and ensuring that the identity of all the staff members is verified by the police.
- Setting up a female parent committee in schools to address matters associated with the safety of female students.
- Ensuring that school premises are well supervised by deploying female staff to monitor areas outside girls’ washrooms.
- Partnering with non-governmental organisations to ensure that female students receive training in self-defense.
What are your views on the steps taken by the government to ensure the safety of students in educational institutions? E-mail your thoughts along with your photograph to [email protected] to be featured in the ‘From You to Us’ section of RobinAge.
