Bengaluru: It took a recent tragic accident to goad the DPI into action. Their decision was taken after the death of a student in a water sump at Bidarahalli government school. Subsequently the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) directed the Block Education Officers (BEOs) to hold a meeting of all the school headmasters and physically verify whether each school was following foolproof safety and security measures.
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All the school headmasters have been directed to furnish a status report on the water sumps, electricity connections etc in their schools and indicate the measures taken to ensure the safety of the children. All the BEOs have been told to send their reports to their respective DDPIs at the earliest. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a BEO informed that after this incident took place, all the BEOs have called a meeting of school heads in the next couple of days.
Mr. SM Ramesh, Block Education Officer, Bengaluru 4, under whose jurisdiction Bidarahalli school falls, informed that he met the headmasters of around 200 government schools on Friday to discuss the issue. Meanwhile, the DPI has suspended the Bidarahalli school headmaster Mr. Govindaswamy on charges of negligence. Mr. SM Ramesh said that immediately after the incident was reported, they suspended the school headmaster from service on charges of negligence.
“We are waiting for the post-mortem report of the deceased student. The department will give Rs.50,000 compensation to the family of the student,” he said.
Meanwhile, activists who are working with government schools, hope this incident will be an eye- opener for the government school authorities and DPI officials.
Mr. Sneha Kunj, an activist, said open sumps are one the biggest hazards in most government schools in the city. "A common sight in any school is that such sumps are not locked. Students are allowed to draw water with the help of a rope.
In many schools students are even used to clean sumps once in a while. As there are no borewell connections in any government schools, sumps are like a lifeline for them. The need of the hour is alerting the teachers and sensitizing the students,” she summed up.
