CBSE reminds schools to follow safety policies

Nagpur: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has circulated a notice to remind the schools to adhere to the safety policy as formulated by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Government of India. The guidelines, which were first framed in 2016, majorly spell out the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders for preparing plans, developing capacity, incorporating risk reduction in syllabus and improving coordination and synergy at all levels with respect to school safety and disaster preparedness.

The National School Safety Policy Guidelines (NSSPG) are applicable to all schools in the country and they draw the attention of the decision makers on school education in India upon the urgent need to strengthen risk resilience of schools in rural as well as urban areas of the country and emphasizes on the need for active mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction in all the school education initiatives in the country.

The guidelines define school safety as creation of safe environments for children starting from their homes to their schools and back which includes safety from large-scale natural hazards of geological or climatic origin, human-made risks, pandemics, violence as well as more frequent and smaller-scale fires, transportation and other related emergencies and environmental threats that can adversely affect the lives of children.

According to the guidelines, disconnect between the institutions, limited convergence between schemes and limited understanding of school safety concept are the key challenges faced by the schools while implementing security measures. Further, it is mentioned that sensitizing and strengthening official structures and mechanisms responsible for safety at the state, district and local levels is the primary step to promote safety in learning spaces. Guiding principles regarding planning for safety, implementation of safety actions, regular monitoring for risk and revision of plans, roles and responsibilities for different stakeholders and others are also mentioned.

The notice is pointed towards the heads of the schools and they are all requested to take requisite measures to implement the school safety guidelines issued by NDMA.