Waking up from the slumber after the death of Sonia Singh, the six-year-old who died after falling from the second floor of the school building at Basavanagudi around a fortnight ago, the Department of Public Instruction has ‘strongly’ reminded schools about the safety norms for the children.
The department recently issued a fresh circular to all the schools regarding the safety measures to be taken. The department in its circular stated that the schools would be given recognition on the basis of the security measures taken by the school authorities for the safety of students.
The department said, classes of children studying in nursery, Class-1 and Class-2 should be held in the ground floor of the building and the school should, in any case, not let the small children to go to the other floors.
Taking note of the narrow and small stairs found in many schools, the department issued guidelines that the stairs should be wide. The parapet should be of five feet height and grills be fixed with the walls of the school to prevent any untoward incident. To avoid any stampede, the department wants the schools not to allow children rush to the classes after the prayer and come out hurrying after the last bell.
In this regard the secretary of primary and secondary education department T M Vijay Bhaskar said, some new norms have been issued relating to the safety measures. These new directives have been given to avoid incidents like the one took place with Sonia Singh.
He said, an inspection team would be constituted to monitor the safety norms adopted by the school, which would carry unexpected inspection of the schools. Along with it, the schools may lose recognition at the time of renewal if safety regulations are not followed.