Chandigarh
11 September 2017
DIVYA AZAD
Former Union Minister and ex-city MP, Pawan Kumar Bansal has expressed serious concern over rising incidents of crime against children in the country. In view of the recent case of murder of 7-year-old at Ryan International School in Gurugram, the case of an eleven year old school girl being forced to stand in boys’ toilet as punishment for not wearing school uniform and incidents of child abuse in tricity as well in the past, he has suggested some measures as a part of Administration’s directive to schools and which should be strictly enforced by the Chandigarh Administration.
He said the crime rate has increased so much that it seems there is no control and fear of criminal activities among the people that such horrific crimes are being committed in the broad daylight. The crime rate against every one lakh children in Chandigarh is three times more than the national average and the kidnapping and abduction cases are four times more in the city.
Bansal suggested that the administration should issue a detailed protocol for all government and private schools which should be scrupulously followed. He suggested that GPS systems in the school buses and closed circuits cameras with the provision of remote monitoring should be installed. Cameras should be installed in the classrooms as well. The access of the camera should be provided to the parents of the students as well.
He suggested the presence of a lady member of staff on each school bus to ensure proper pick up and dropping of the students and also to ensure safety of children while travelling in buses. This, he said can be done on rotation.
He also said that the entry to the school premises should only be allowed to the concerned staff of the school and the parents with special cards that should identify each visitor electronically so that the data is recorded.
Further he said that separate toilets for the students, teaching and non-teaching staff should be made and the toilets for the bus and canteen staff should be made away from the main school building. He added that the height of the walls of the school buildings should be raised high to make them unscalable.
Bansal also said that awareness should be created among the students regarding the present scenario and the adolescent students should be taught self-defense so that they know which situation is alarming and should have the presence of mind to deal with it.
