THANE: The Thane education department, along with NGOs, will soon embark on conducting sessions for increased student safety in Thane schools.
They will also periodically monitor compliance of safety measures taken up by all educational institutes in the district.
The decision was made during a meeting to emphasise the need for enhanced student safety in educational institutes following the Badlapur school sexual assault incident.
The session, a first of its kind in the state, was conducted following directions from Shrinivas B Agarwal, Principal District and Sessions Judge and Chairman, Thane District Legal Service Authority (DLSA), in coordination with the Thane district Women and Child Welfare department and DLSA.
Chief Judicial Magistrate S K Fokmare, Rajkumar Dongre, Assistant Commissioner of the Thane crime branch, Public Prosecutor Sanjay More, and representatives of local civic education departments participated in the session, a statement from the district administration said.
"A committee recently formed and led by a retired judge framed guidelines for student safety in schools. A govt resolution was also passed to that effect a few months back. We are now working on ensuring the guidelines are implemented," said Ishwar K Suryavanshi, Secretary, DLSA, Thane.
Suryavanshi elaborated, saying, "Schools need to install CCTVs and ensure police verification and sensitisation of all staff regarding the safety of students. In addition, random visits by the nearest police station personnel to the respective school and hostel premises should be done periodically, and children should be made aware of good and bad touch. A team of education department officials, along with NGO members, will take periodic compliance reviews and report to the DLSA."