Special teams to audit safety measures in Gurgaon private schools, flag problems

Gurgaon Deputy commissioner Amit Khatri on Friday chaired a meeting of the district school safety committee and said that children’s safety was of prime importance for the district administration. Khatri said that the safety audit of private schools was going to continue and any deficiencies found during the audit would be flagged so the schools could take corrective measures.

He said that district administration officials would create a format for the safety audit and schools would be accorded points based for meeting these criteria. The format will cover all points that need to be met under the safety standards put in place by the state government.

The DC informed that the education department would inform schools before the safety audit is done by special teams formed specifically for the purpose.

The education department was also directed to create a database with updated contact information of principals and heads of schools.

In the meeting, schools were also given instructions regarding road safety. In total, 14 points were discussed, including need for fitting railings in windows of school buses. Further, the DC directed the additional deputy commissioner and regional traffic authority (RTA) to ensure that school buses met the standards of the state guidelines. Buses which do not meet the guidelines will not be registered, he said.

The commissioner also asked the administration to ensure, during the safety audit, that schools were equipped to cater to the needs of differently-abled students. The presence of ramps, and other infrastructure for differently-abled children, will also be checked in the audit.

Laying emphasis on the health and wellness of students, the deputy commissioner said that the health department would be asked to provide a list of generic medicines to the schools, which will have to stock them.