Malavalli food poisoning: No norms to govern hostels of private institutions

Mandya: No specific regulatory guidelines exist for granting permission or licences or to register and monitor hostels of private educational institutions and private residential schools in the state.

This has come to light after two children died of food poisoning at a hostel of a private school at T Kagepura in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district.  

Neither the DDPI's office at the district-level nor a specific body of the Education department at the state-level registers or grants permits or licence to hostels of private educational institutions. 

Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KCPCR) chairman K Naganna Gowda said, "KCPCR has recommended to the state government to come up with specific guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOP) for private boarding schools." 

Guidelines only exist for regulating government residential schools like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Awasiya Vidyalaya, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Morarji Desai Residential Schools, BCM (Backward Classes and Minorities) hostels of the Backward Classes Welfare department and Girijana Ashrama Shale of Tribal Welfare department, monitored by the respective departments. 

KCPCR member Venkatesh said the commission had already written to the Department of School Education and Literacy in January to adopt the regulatory guidelines issued by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights for hostels of educational institutions and rules of procedures for regulating standalone hostels and private residential schools.

"The government should also adopt the Karnataka Child Protection Policy 2016-2023. According to the guidelines, food from outside should not be donated and distributed to children in any school on any special occasion," Venkatesh said. 

Commissioner of Public Instruction Dr K V Thrilok Chandra said the Department of School Education and Literacy is coming up with detailed guidelines under Karnataka Education Act on permission, regulation and monitoring of private boarding schools. A committee, headed by DC in each district will be empowered to issue permission for such institutions and regulate them. "Meanwhile, we have issued circular to DDPIs of all districts to probe how many such unauthorised institutions are there in Karnataka," he said.

Twenty-eight students up to class 8 of Gokula Vidya Samsthe, including 24 from Meghalaya, and 14 students of classes 9 and 10 from St Meera's School suffered food poisoning after consuming food from a hotel and distributed by a community after Holi celebration. So far, two students of Meghalaya have died. Forty children are still being treated at Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, according to Education department officials. 

After it emerged that 24 children from Gokula Vidya Samsthe were from Meghalaya, KCPCR will write to the government to take up a joint survey by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Special Juvenile Police Units and District Child Protection Units of Department of Women and Child Development to trace how many children from the North East are studying in various boarding schools in Karnataka and to find out why they were studying here.

According to preliminary information, a few are students are studying in some institutes in Shivamogga, Belagavi and in Mysuru, besides those in Gokula Vidya Samsthe, said member of KCPCR Venkatesh.