“I shudder to think how safe children in our schools are.The maniac who committed the heinous crime in that school could have returnedback the next day to repeat the act in other schools of Vasco too. I guess yourreporter and The Goan exposed this just the very next day. The doublespeak ofschool management and PTAs in Vasco lies exposed”, says Georgina Fiola Rego,Chairperson, Mormugao Municipal Council reacting to The Goan’s expose on safetyin schools on its last week edition 150 hours after the crime.
While Goa’s Police and its Special Investigation Team racktheir brains to nab the culprit, the fact that schools in the State have beenclueless about students safety has been became quite evident with The Goanexpose. What has been even more shocking is that all the schools in the Stateshould have been communicated the Union Ministry of Home Affairs Guidelines ofApril 2010 whether from Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education,Central Board of Secondary Education as well as Council for Indian SchoolCertificate Examinations. No one cared to implement it. Schools have been moreinterested in collecting fees from students and grants-in-aid from Governmentbut failed to put in basic measures such as a solid wall, CCTVs (robust Chinesecost just Rs 500 a piece!), visitor’s register but most importantly an intruderidentification system.
The Goan’s enquiry across Vasco reveals that the common poolof knowledge of how to keep the schools secure from untoward incidents like theschool at Headland Sada exists within the people itself. “Background check andpolice clearance of staff especially the support staffs like ayahs and thewatchman is done by our school to ensure that predators don’t work here”, saysVasco based educationist and director of Edify School, Vasco, Prashant Vales.Vales raises practical as well as ethical questions on efficacy of CCTVs suchas ‘who will monitor them’ and ‘what is the guarantee that its’ footage doesnot fall into the hands of a pervert”. The Goan was told by a large number ofparents that regular rounds of the school premises by teachers and supportstaff, active interest of parents in school’s security standards and more ladypolicemen near schools were amongst the suggestions mooted.
The Goan wasn’t surprised to see a PCR van parked outsidethe entrance of Regina Mundi School on Saturday, the day The Goan hit thestands. This was one of the schools whose security was breached by our reporter,to prove the callousness of school authorities . Whatwould have been even more worthwhile had the police and school authoritiessecured the school’s porous walls and gates. A common cause that would also beof a greater security is making uniforms and name tags compulsory for schoolstaff. Walls higher than three meters, school policy allowing only parents withschool allotted identification cards to meet or take their children away areamongst the measures mooted. Most importantly, the children should be taughtwhat amounts to sexual harassment and what precautions they need to takeincluding moving around school premises in numbers.
