Student safety is of utmost importance, and the Ministry of Education has taken steps to ensure the protection of students by implementing guidelines on school safety and security across all States and Union Territories (UTs). By the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 136 of 2017 and Writ Petition (Civil) No. 874 of 2017, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), under the Ministry of Education, developed comprehensive guidelines on school safety and security. These guidelines were circulated in 2021. The Ministry is now seeking a status update from the States and UTs on how these guidelines have been implemented.
These guidelines are similar to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) guidelines, as they include provisions for holding school management accountable for the safety of students in government, government-aided, and private schools.
The guidelines cover areas such as preventive education, stakeholder accountability, reporting procedures, relevant legal provisions, support and counseling, and creating a safe environment. While the guidelines are advisory, they provide detailed instructions on the accountability of various stakeholders and departments to ensure the safety of children in schools. States and UTs are allowed to modify these guidelines according to their specific rules and requirements, but they must notify the government about any such modifications.
These guidelines are crucial to accessibility, inclusiveness and positive learning outcomes, States and UTs were informed that they may incorporate additions/modifications to these guidelines, if deemed necessary, according to the State- and UT-specific requirements and notify these guidelines
Ministry of Education
The purpose of these guidelines is:
To create an understanding among all stakeholders, including students and parents, on the need for co-creating a safe and secure school environment for the holistic development of children.
To make different stakeholders aware about the acts, policies, procedures and guidelines already available on different aspects of safety and security i.e., physical, socio-emotional, cognitive and specific to natural disasters as well.
To empower different stakeholders and enable clarity on their role in the implementation of this guideline.
To fix accountability for keeping children safe and secure in schools (including while children are transported to and fro, to attend school or go back to their homes in a school transport) on School Management and Principals and Teachers in Private/Unaided Schools, and Head/in-charge Head of School, Teachers and education administration in case of government/government-aided schools.
A key purpose is to emphasise the ‘Zero Tolerance Policy’ against any negligence on the part of any individual or management when it comes to the safety and security of children in school
These guidelines are uploaded on the website of DoSEL at https://dsel.education.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-10/guidelines_sss.pdf.
Input from various sources
(Rehash/Yash Kamble/MSM)
