Chandigarh Police plan to appoint school marshals

“The school marshals could be the parents of the schoolchildren or senior students of the school who are willing to serve as volunteers for the safety of school students as they leave for home after the school gets over,” added the IGP. (Representational Image)

Regular traffic chaos outside schools that outnumbered traffic police control room (PCR) vans is forcing police to consider appointing school marshals in the city. The Chandigarh Police has generated the idea after finding the traffic marshal scheme a successful one. The move is aimed at providing better ambience outside the schools.

The Chandigarh traffic police introduced the concept of traffic marshals for Chandigarh in 2004 to improve its interface with the residents. Under this scheme, resident volunteers are invited to participate as marshals in the enforcement drives of the traffic police. The marshals perform the task of providing queries posed by traffic offenders who are challaned.

Tajender Singh Luthra, Director General of Police (DGP), Chandigarh, said: “Since there are more than 500 schools in Chandigarh and the schools outnumber the PCR cops, we are considering to depute school marshals on the lines of traffic marshals.” “The school marshals could be the parents of the schoolchildren or senior students of the school who are willing to serve as volunteers for the safety of school students as they leave for home after the school gets over,” added the IGP.

The officer also said the matter can be taken into consideration as there have been instances where some miscreants have been spotted outside the schools. The security of children after they leave from school is a major cause of concern, the DGP said. “We are also unable to deploy PCR cops outside every school as there are around 60 PCRs and the number of school is more than 500. The idea of appointing school marshals has been brought into discussion with the authorities of schools concerned and very soon the scheme will be initiated,” said Luthra.

The schools have been asked to set up CCTV cameras and check the credentials of the employees. Meanwhile, the UT Police have also sent a communique to the schools through the education department to set up CCTV cameras at the entry gates and across the boundary of the school premises.

DGP Luthra said the employees of all schools, including faculty members and peons, are being verified and their credentials are also being checked thoroughly by the police teams.