In the wake of series of incidents of child sexual abuse in the City which has also brought to fore the issue of private schools functioning illegally, the Department of Public Instructions (DPI) has decided to take up inspection of all schools in the state.
This will include inspection of unaided and aided schools, too. Immaterial of whether the school is following State Board, CBSE or ICSE, the government will check their credentials.
The Commissioner for Public Instructions (CPI) Mohammed Mohsin has directed district officials to form a three member committee for inspecting schools at the district level.
The nodal officer of the districts, the Deputy Director of Public Instruction, will constitute the committee. The committee will be headed by the Block Education Officer and will include other officers at the district level.
The committee will visit schools in their jurisdiction and look for compliance of government regulations. The committee will also be looking for compliance pertaining to the child safety guidelines issued by the state government.
The deadline for submitting the report is November 29, 2014.
Directing the officials not to cross the deadline, the circular issued by the CPI stated: “...In spite of guidelines issued by the department in the wake of abuse against children in schools, several schools have not complied with norms. Such unfortunate incidents are repeating in schools and to prevent any such incidents in the future, the department is taking up these inspections...”
The circular specified that during the committee’s visits to schools, representatives of either the parents association or the school’s safety committee should be present. If any violation is recorded, the district officials will be held responsible, according to the CPI. A 19-point list has been made for checking the credentials.
