South MCD issues guidelines to schools on safety of its students

After a five-year-old boy died due to falling inside an open septic tank in his school in South-west Delhi, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation is leaving no stone unturned to prevent any untoward incident and ensuring due safety and security within its schools.

The Corporation has said that the school authorities have not been following safety norms properly which is a violation of the existing norms. It has also directed school heads of all 579 MCD schools to follow the instructions and report on a daily basis.

The SDMC, through a circular, has directed all school heads to ensure that all underground water tanks, septic tanks, and any other pit found unsafe and dangerous should be covered with strong iron lids with locking system and warning sign boards.

“Following the earlier incident of falling inside an open tank, it has been directed to take adequate steps immediately. If school authorities fail to adhere to the norms, stringent action will be initiated against the guilty persons,” said Mukesh Yadav, Director of education department, SDMC.

The circular has further added that all electric fittings and allied items should be kept in safe operation mode and exposing such items in open should be avoided. If some construction/repair/maintenance work is going on in school premises, adequate steps should be taken to ensure safety and security of the students. Construction sides should be demarcated and barricaded to bar the entry of students in construction zones. 

Cracks in the walls, ceilings and boundary wall, moist walls and ceilings, clinking fans, suspended lights, equipment at children parks such as sea-saws, swings and slides should not be found faulty/damaged and must be repaired/replaced if tempered.

Additionally, students must be sensitised about road safety disaster management, sanitation and personal hygiene, epidemic, etc. In the morning sessions, charts for safety measures should be displayed in all classrooms. The students should not have easy access to the open roofs of the schools and the doors should be well locked to prevent the students from climbing onto the roofs to avoid undesirable mishaps.

Apart from this, it has been direct to ensure secure safe drinking water facilities at every school and sanitation condition of premises particularly toilet areas, drinking water area, store area and mid-day-meal store area, etc should be supervised daily to maintain cleanliness. No student should be allowed to go out of the school during school hours and entry/exit registers should be maintained properly.