Srinagar, Sep 21 (KNS): The Jammu and Kashmir government’s education department has issued a mandatory direction to the schools to take all safety measures for the students including the installation of CCTV cameras in the schools.
One of the top officials in the school education department civil secretariat told KNS that they have issued the direction to all the private schools that they should take all safety measures including the verification of staff and installation of CCTV cameras in the schools.
Sources said that the move is aimed for the safety of the students in schools. “We have directed all the schools to install CCTV cameras in classrooms, corridors, stairs, outside washrooms, and playground,” the officials said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile sources said that that all the schools in the state will be asked by the government to submit the record of all employees to the local police stations. “The government is likely to ask the schools for police verification of staff and van drivers and conductors,” sources told KNS.
Sources said that most of the schools in the state don’t verify the antecedents of drivers of school buses, private vans or auto-rickshaws ferrying school kids. “Schools barely check their history and employ them on the basis of licence they carry,” said one of the social activists.
He said that police verification of all staff is a must in schools. “Parents too cannot shy away from their responsibilities as they hire private vans for their convenience,” the activist said and added that schools must take preventive measures so that Gurugram-like incidents could be averted.
It is to mention here that Jammu Police has decided to conduct background checks of all staff at schools in Jammu region.
Sources within the police said that the schools have been asked to provide a list of their staff, including bus conductors, drivers, janitors, security guards and others.
Police said that the move follows rising concern about safety of children at schools after a seven-year-old boy was recently found dead with his throat slit in the washroom of a prominent school in Gurugram. (KNS)