Appraisal shows 131 schools are only 50% safe for children

BENGALURU: A safety appraisal done in 131 private and public, aided and unaided schools in Bengaluru and Kolar by NIMHANS (National institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has found that the overall school safety was only 50 per cent of expected levels.The schools were assessed and scored on physical infrastructure, road safety, fire safety and first-aid facilities. The research team developed a digital safety appraisal mobile application based on various existing national-level guidelines and quantified safety level percentage.

This study was part of a larger national report titled ‘Advancing Child Safety in India: Implementation is Key’ released on Wednesday.“The safety levels when it comes to the macro level such as school safety guidelines, school safety committees, budget for schools safety was only 48 per cent of expected levels. Road safety levels were at 20 per cent, fire safety at 20 per cent and first aid at 40 per cent,” said Dr Gururaj G, Senior Professor and Dean  - Neuro Sciences, NIMHANS.

In all, 173 roads were observed near the 131 schools. Several did not have school zone signange, speed limits, supervised lane crossing and designated drop and pick up zones. They were filled with potholes and insufficient footpaths. A school safety budget was not present in 80% of the schools. 

An excerpt of the report reads, “ Several laboratories did not have exhaust fans, chemicals were not labelled properly or kept out of children’s reach. Several schools had not conducted fire safety drills, did not have emergency exits.”“CCTV surveillance, supervision of playgrounds, parents being members of safety committee, presence of a safety committee, GPS trackers in school buses, fitness certificates for school buses, transport safety manager were some of the many aspects assessed,” he added.

Only one school was graded A in terms of safety in this appraisal. 
K G  Jagadeesha, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said, “We will have a meeting with stakeholders on how to implement safety using this report along with the 2016 Child Safety policy brought out by UNICEF, so it is not just at a policy level. The department plans to have a child safety officer in each school who will be a part of the faculty who has lesser workload, such as a physical education teacher.”