There will be winter break in schools in Kashmir valley and winter zones of Jammu division from December 19 till February 28. The time should be used by concerned authorities to carry out safety audits including fire safety in all government and private schools.
Department of School Education and Literacy(DoSEL), Ministry of Education has developed ‘Guidelines on School Safety and Security’, for fixing the accountability of the School Management in the matter of safety and security of children studying in Government, Government-aided and Private Schools, in pursuance of the directions of Supreme Court judgment in 2017 and in line with the provisions contained in the National Education Policy, 2020.
The guidelines have been prepared by an expert committee and in consultation with all stakeholders. The guidelines are advisory in nature and have been circulated to all States/UTs/Autonomous Bodies of DoSEL and stakeholder Ministries in October last, according to the government reply in ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament.
These guidelines are required to be read with National Disaster Management Authority’s (NDMA) National Disaster Management Guidelines on School Safety Policy, 2016 which are statutory in nature and are required to be complied without any deviation. The NDMA guidelines provide for conducting quarterly safety audits by the School Management Committee on ten designated activities, of which, conducting annual mock drills, installation of fire-extinguishers, training of students and teachers in school safety and disaster preparedness, adherence to safety norms with respect to storage of inflammable and toxic material and grant of recognition certificate only to those schools that comply with structural safety norms specifically pertain to fire safety.
The University Grants Commission has also framed guidelines on safety of students, on and off the campuses of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). Under these guidelines, the HEIs should install a fire safety system under which mechanisms for the detection of a fire, the warning resulting from a fire and standard operating procedures for control of the fire are evolved. Students and staff should be trained in the effective operation of fire fighting devices. Mock drills for fire situations should also be undertaken at least once in a semester.
The Government and school managements have the responsibility to ensure a safe and child friendly environment. Measures required to ensure the implementation must be taken and winter period be utilized to ensure schools and colleges remain safe for the students.