Odisha Govt issues new safety guidelines following Ryan school murder

Bhubaneswar, September 14: Following the Ryan murder case in
Gurgaon, the Odisha Government on Thursday issued a list of safety measures to
the schools across the State that will be adopted to prevent untoward
incidences on campus or in school buses to reinforce security measures. 

As part of the campus safety, the School and Mass Education
Department in a letter to all the concerned authorities strictly asked not to
allow vendors into the premises during school hours while teachers have been
asked to strictly adhere to the ‘no meeting’ policy during school hours with visitors.

“All visitors should be given a photo ID, subsequent to which
they should be issued a visitor’s pass to be worn during their stay in the campus
of the schools. Parents, guardians, house-help and drivers should not be allowed
to enter or leave the school premises without showing their identity. Vendor
vehicles and staff cars should be checked at the entry/exit point of the school,”
the letter stated.

The department also asked the school authorities to ensure
that support staff be frisked by the school security both at arrival and at departure
while to monitor traffic in the morning as well as break and lunch. This ensures
that the children are under surveillance at all the times.

“The administrative staff should take periodic rounds of the washrooms,
lunch areas, class rooms and open spaces during and after school hours. CCTV
cameras should to be installed at strategic locations and monitored throughout the
day by responsible persons,” the letter stated.

“Headcount of students from the campus or at the time of alighting
from the bus at the designated stop should be strictly against the presentation
of the identity card by the student, the gate pass by the attendant or the
parents. Gate passes should be issued for any change of mode of transport or if
the identity card is not available. This should only be done against a note
sent by the parent,” it advised.

The department also advised the teachers to hand over the students
who need to leave the school premises during school hours to the parents or the
authorized person after proper verification.

“Contractual staff should to be hired only after thorough antecedent
check and identity verification through Voter I Card or Adhar Card etc. Police verification
is also to be carried out for such staff. Washroom should be separate for
students and staff. Ayahs (women caretakers) to accompany kids to washrooms or do
rotation duty in front of wash rooms,” it further advised.

To ensure safety and security to the students during
transportation in school buses, the School and Mass Education Department
advised the administrative officials to ensure that the buses are fitted with CCTV
cameras and GPS system to track their location.

“There should be teachers on duty in school buses. Female attendants
should be on duty in every bus and should be present till the last stop. Security
guards are to be sent on all school trips in junior school. They should also accompany
staff and students, if the timing so requires (early morning or late evening). The
antecedent of the bus driver and cleaner/helper should be verified by the school
authority through police verification,” the letter added.

In view of the expediency, the school authorities have been be directed
to take immediate steps for implementation of the safety measures for the school
children.