Reality check on safety and security of children

The Ministry of Education, Government of India, urges all states and union territories to implement the ‘Guidelines on School Safety and Security-2021’ as a timely intervention to ensure the safety and security of schoolchildren from any form of mental or physical suffering. The ghastly incident of sexual abuse of two four-year-old girls allegedly by a sanitation worker in a school in Badlapur in Maharashtra’s Thane district has pressed the alarm bell for all states and UTs to do a reality check to ensure that schoolchildren are safe and secure while in schools. The horrific gang rape of a minor girl in Dhing in Assam’s Nagaon district while returning home from tuition classes also brought to light the grim reality of children not being safe and secure from criminals even outside the schools. Those involved in heinous crimes must be meted out exemplary punishment through trials in Fast Track courts. The Ministry has also requested that the States and Union Territories provide information on the implementation of the guidelines issued three years ago. The information to be provided by the States and Union Territories will bring to light the ground realities. The guidelines are advisory in nature, but implementation is critical to fixing the accountability of school management for the safety and security of children studying in government, government-aided, and private schools. It says that when children attend school, where they spend about half a day on every school working day, the responsibility to ensure their safety and security lies with the school authorities. When a child is in school, the school has the actual charge or control over the child, and if the school wilfully neglects the child in a manner likely to cause the child unnecessary mental or physical suffering, it may be treated as a violation of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. Hence, it is the school, i.e., the school management, principal, or head of school, that has the responsibility of ensuring the safety of children in schools, and parents play an important role in monitoring whether the school is fulfilling its responsibility, it adds. It clarifies that the accountability of the schools includes the period while children are transported to and fro to attend school or go back to their homes in a school transport. The guidelines place emphasis on the “Whole School Safety Approach” which calls for the participation of all stakeholders, including, among others, school management, principals, teachers, students, parents, non-teaching staff, etc., with clear roles and responsibilities towards school safety and security. The multi-sectoral approach in it says that it is not only schools but also homes and society; not only the Ministry of Education but also other ministries and departments that need to share the responsibility of developing a safe and secure society in which the school functions. It highlights that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 lays down the goal of every educational institution, from pre-school to university: “A good educational institution is one in which each student feels welcomed and cared for, where a safe and stimulating learning environment exists, where a wide range of learning experiences are offered, and where good physical infrastructure and appropriate resources conducive to learning are available to all students. Attaining these qualities must be the goal of every educational institution.” The NEP is very categorical; it further states the multiplicity of safety issues and their provisioning; it requires careful attention to be paid to the safety and rights of children and adolescents enrolled in schools, particularly girl children, and the various difficult issues faced by adolescents, such as substance or drug abuse and forms of discrimination and harassment, including violence, with clean, safe, and efficient mechanisms for reporting and due process on any infractions against children’s or adolescents’ rights or safety. It further emphasises, according to high priority, the development of such mechanisms that are effective, timely, and well-known to all students. The rationale behind the “Whole School Approach” has been well explained in the guidelines and points out that as children spend much of their first 15 years in a school environment, “school is not only the focal point of children’s academic development but also their social and emotional development, since it is where they make friends and develop healthy relationships.” This approach is driven by research findings that whole-school initiatives involving all the school community are more likely to reduce crimes, violence, and bullying behaviours than single-component programs, such as those involving only classroom curriculum or appointing counsellors. The concept of safety and security included in the advisory is comprehensive. It describes’safety’’ as protection against undesirable unintentional threats or dangers ‘and’security’ as protection from undesirable intentional human behaviours or actions. The guidelines need to be widely disseminated so that schools, parents, and society are aware of the roles they need to play to keep children safe and secure in school and outside.