BHUBANESWAR: The death of a girl after a wall collapsed near a school in Bhadrak
district on Tuesday has exposed how schools across the state need to concentrate on implementing safety guidelines issued by the state government. The
Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) had asked all schools to follow these guidelines after schools were reopened on June 28 and all directed all district education officers to assure their implementation.
The guidelines are applicable for all schools, including state-run schools under the school and mass education and ST/SC development departments, along with aided and un-aided private institutions. All schools have been asked to do safety audits to ensure structural safety and the danger posed by cracked walls, unsupported roofs, mud walls and non-structural facets like open ponds or lack of fences in and around the schools.
"In the first phase, district level safety committees are formed. Block and school-level panels will be formed later. We will also conduct capacity building programmes for teachers with the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority," said OPEPA state project director B S Poonia.
Poonia called the collapse at Basudevpur 'unfortunate'. "We took action against the headmaster immediately though the wall collapse occurred at a private building outside the school. All school management committees have been asked to conduct safety audits," he added.
The guidelines say schools must have a first-aid box, fire extinguishers, safe-drinking water and clean premises. All types of disaster preparedness at the school-level must be done in accordance with the National Disaster Management Authority guidelines that have been circulated among schools and adapted according to local needs. In an effort to prevent disaster deaths, all schools have additionally been asked to put up directions for students on the course of action to be taken during floods and cyclones.
Structural and non-structural weaknesses in school buildings are to be identified by a committee comprising school staff and
engineers and health officials of the
gram panchayat and zilla parishad, say the guidelines.
"We have asked all block and cluster-level officers to increase monitoring of safety issues in schools," Poonia added.
