Most schools are yet to start the process of upgrading security and safety measures
Vibgyor High School
Bengaluru: The rape of a six-year- old student at VIBGYOR High stunned the city a few months ago and in the uproar that followed the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) decided to issue a notification on the security and safety of children to all schools. But soon afterwards, the city police, under fire for failing to control the increasing assaults on women and children in the city, came out with its own set of guidelines for schools.
And in the process, the two agencies have set off a fresh controversy with parents and school managements complaining they were not taken into confidence when framing the guidelines, which they say are unrealistic and could lead to more corruption.
Left with no option, the DPI and the city police have started persuading some of them to fall in line, creating more angst in the process as others are accusing them of being manipulative. While the DPI officials say they have called a meeting with school representatives on Wednesday in good faith to discuss the difficult provisions of the circular issued on children’s safety, the Karnataka Private Schools Joint Action Committee, an umbrella organisation representing more than 4,000 schools in the state, claims it has been deliberately not informed about it.
“We have not received any invitation from the DPI about the meeting. Only eight schools from all the zones have been invited. These school managements always toe the DPI line. Instead of finding a solution to the problem, the department is following a divide and rule policy, ” says D. Shashikumar, secretary of the committee, which has complicated things further by knocking on the doors of the state high court, alleging the state education department and the police have not taken it into confidence when laying down rules on safety for schools.
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