Schools Could Lose Affiliation Over Negligence

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has decided to strike hard the school management and term it responsible for the serious injury or death caused to students in the school due to negligence of the schools. The commission will likely recommend revoking the school’s affiliation in extreme cases, where the school authority is at fault.

According to NCPCR member, Priyank Kanoongo, “There have been so many recent mishaps in school that have put the lives of students at risk. We visited these schools and found that while action was taken against the school employee, teacher or principal, the management got away scot-free. To make a school more accountable, we must make the management more responsible.”

Kanoongo further said, “A School’s health is impacted only when the management is affected. Otherwise they just replace the teacher or principal and continue to ignore basic safety and security concerns.”  The commission is further planning to draft the guidelines in such a manner that can revoke the affiliation from any of the boards from the schools, responsible for grave mistakes and negligence. These guidelines will be sent to the ministries of women and child development, HRD and other educational boards.

The commission had regional consultations regarding the subject recently and various security issues along with school transportation got discussed. Kanoonga further added, “Police verification for all employees must be made compulsory. And yet in our recent visits to schools we found that instructors and teachers had not been verified by the police.”

The recommendations are being made in light of recent incidents that took place in various Delhi schools. A six year old student of Delhi’s Ryan International School drowned to death while a five year old Ankit Kumar fell into an open septic tank in his school and died a painful death. The same drowning in a school swimming pool happened in a Bhopal school in December.