CBSE withdraws directive for safety of students in schools

Schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are no more required to make arrangements for psychometric evaluation of their teachers and other staff by professional psychologists.

The CBSE has withdrawn its directive in this regard.

In an official communication to all schools affiliated to it, the board has directed them to follow the school safety guidelines that was issued earlier by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

This comes about six months after the board directed its schools to arrange for psychometric evaluation of their teachers and other staff by professional psychologists, and submit an action-taken report to it within two months.

Seeking its schools to take a host of other measures to ensure safety of students in their campus in September last year, the board also directed its schools to get safety audit of their schools done by local police and administration in wake of the murder of a seven-year-old student of Ryan International School in Gurugram.

It also directed the schools to install CCTV at vulnerable locations in the campus and called for police verification of their teachers and all non-teaching staff.

Later in October, the board constituted a committee to frame "comprehensive" guidelines for safety and security of students in its schools.

It also put on hold its directive for psychometric evaluation of the teachers and other staff of the schools, saying a detailed guidelines will again be issued "shortly".

The schools will get "adequate time" to comply with the measures, including psychometric evaluation of the teachers and other staff, it also said.

"The NCPCR and the NDMA have issued comprehensive guidelines considering the requirement of safety of children in schools covering all essential aspects of safety of children. The Schools are therefore required to comply with the guidelines issued by the NCPCR and NDMA as they cover all additional measures that the board had prescribed to ensure safety of children in schools," CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi said.