A year that exposed lack of safety of children at City schools

The safety of children in schools turned out to be the much discussed issue in the City in 2014 with back-to-back cases of child sexual abuse reported in the later part of the year.

The incidents caught the authorities unawares and they, in turn, indiscriminately brought forth measures that created a lot of hue and cry, but actually did little.

At least four major incidents of child sexual abuse in schools shocked Bengaluru within a span of four months, with the public raising serious concerns over the malaise. The spate of unfortunate incidents began with the rape of a six-year-old student of Vibgyor High in Marathahalli on July 2. Bengaluru erupted in protests following the incident, demanding that the government bring in strict regulations in schools to ensure children’s safety.

Following the incident, the Department of Public Instruction issued 70 pointers on July 23 to be implemented in schools. The police issued another set of nine safety guidelines on July 26 that had a number of measures such as installation of CCTV cameras and GPS system in buses, appointment of a floor vigilance officer to monitor activities, etc. Schools were asked to comply with the police safety guidelines by August 31.

Schools had to grapple with the confusion of implementing two sets of guidelines with little explanation from both the departments. Consequently, the school managements lambasted the authorities over the lack of co-ordination among the departments. Not only did a number of points in the two sets of guidelines overlapped, but they were also very difficult to implement, the schools complained.

For example, a few points in the police guidelines such as installation of CCTV cameras in buses and various parts of the school would be very expensive; a number of points in the 70-point guidelines such as installation of CCTV cameras in every corner of a school were considered altogether illogical.

Meanwhile, more incidents of child sexual abuse hit the headlines. In August, an eight-year-old student was allegedly sexually abused by a 63-year-old guest teacher at a South Bangalore school. Following this, another case of a three-year-old being abused was reported on October 21 at Orchid The International School in Jalahalli. This incident sent more shockers as it was revealed that the school was running certain sections without permission and had also wrongly claimed affiliation to the Central Board of Secondary Education.

As an after-effect, the government went on a hunt for illegally run schools. The harrowing experience continued even as another incident was reported at Indiranagar the Cambridge School at Jeevanbhimanagar on October 29. A Hindi teacher was arrested for raping a six-year-old in the school. The accused was said to have abused the child not once but twice – on October 28 and 29.

A case of sexual abuse was also reported at a government school in Kaval Byrasandra, while one of the staffers of Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir was charged with behaving inappropriately with a high school girl.

While the authorities had announced a slew of child safety measures, their implementation was another issue. The deadline for the implementation of the police guidelines was eventually pushed from August 31 to October 31. So far as the Education department guidelines were concerned, various committees were asked to compile a report on compliance.

By November, a draft of child safety policy mooted by the Department of Women and Child Development, which would ensure blanket safety measures for children in all schools, was announced.

In December, a 14-member committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary V Umesh was formed and it is presently working on a comprehensive guideline. It is to be seen how these measures aid children’s safety in schools in the coming year.