The ministry on Monday re-issued a three-year-old circular to the states, which, among other things, asks schools to verify the antecedents of teaching and non-teaching staff. The circular is signed by Secretary School Education Anil Swarup.
In the wake of the recent incident in Ryan International School Gurugram, where a 7-year-old boy was allegedly assaulted and murdered, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has asked all states to ensure safety of children in schools.
The ministry on Monday re-issued a three-year-old circular to the states, which, among other things, asks schools to verify the antecedents of teaching and non-teaching staff. The circular is signed by Secretary School Education Anil Swarup.
The original circular issued in October 2014 was meant to "ensure safety and well-being of children in schools" and has a number of guidelines for safety in schools including one on the way the school building should be constructed.
The circular says, "It is important that the states devise processes to verify the antecedents of not only all teachers but also other contractual or subordinate staff deployed in schools. In addition, oversight by government's own administrative and monitoring machinery needs to be prescribed realistically so as to ensure that the schools and teachers are monitored regularly."
This is crucial in the context of the recent incident in Ryan School, where it is alleged that the credentials of the accused bus conductor were not verified by the school authorities. This indicates that the school was flouting the safety norms laid down by the Central government.
It also mentions that the head teachers must show zero tolerance in the event of a teacher or staff being drunk/intoxicated. The circular also talks about having more female staff as teaching and non-teaching staff in schools and making teachers gender-sensitive.
Two consecutive incidents of crime with children — one where the 7-year-boy was murdered in Ryan International School in Gurugram and another incident of rape with a 5-year-old girl in a school in Delhi's Gandhi Nagar area — has prompted both Centre and states to take action for safety of children in schools.
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