The management has been advised by the police to revamp the school’s security measures. To begin with, basic security amenities like immediate background verifications of staff, more number of CCTVs, and increasing the number of women staffers especially for security within the school needs to be implemented before the school re-opens possibly next week.
Reddi chose to commemorate his journey on a positive note, saying that the future of the children comes first, acknowledging parents’ growing concern over their kids missing school for an extended period. He urged parents and management to reopen the school and resume activity in a week’s time. Security measures like access controls, CCTV cameras, background verification of staff and more women on the security front are immediate priorities for the school, he said.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar directed the staff of VIBGYOR to hold a parent-teacher meeting before reopening. He was at a meeting with teaching and non-teaching staff from VIBGYOR at Vikas Soudha on Tuesday. “The main complaint is that the staff have not responded adequately to parents’ concerns,” he said. Mr Ratnakar asked the staff to take action with respect to dealing with parents’ problems and how incidents like these can be avoided. However, no decision was taken at the meeting.
The staff expressed apprehension over derecognition of the school by ICSE. Many of them said they had children studying in the school and it is not fair to put their lives at stake. The staff said that the rape of the six-year-old was a one-off incident. The staff also alleged that they are completely powerless before the management, which sits in Mumbai and that even the Principal has no real say in any decision-making processes.
“The government is looking at chalking out a local level action plan, including a grievance redressal mechanism in all schools,” said Mr Mohammed Mohsin, Commissioner, Department of Public Instruction, who was also present at the meeting with the staff and principal of VIBGYOR School. He added that the management has had a big role to play in this debacle. “We called them for feedback on how such a security lapse could have occurred, but they say it was an isolated incident,” he said.
The memorandum being released by the government will take a few more days, he confirmed, saying, “The government is looking at suggestions from the Home Ministry, the Department of Women and Child Welfare, NGOs and the parents. We want to work out the rules and take cognisance of the law. It is a policy level commitment,” he said.
He also confirmed that the guidelines are in keeping with the Police Commissioner’s announcements at VIBGYOR School and include CCTV cameras, more women on the staff and background checks of all employees.
