PANAJI
The comprehensive set of guidelines highlights various areas where action needs to be taken. The GSCPCR has urged each school to formulate a child protection policy. A ten-point outline has been drawn up for the formulation of this policy whereby GSCPCR has asked the schools to ensure the basic infrastructural necessities of separate gender-specific toilets for the staff and the students with attendants, specifications for installation of functional CCTVs and for renovations to be carried out at the campus only during vacations.
Schools have been asked to check the identity proofs of all the visitors at the entry and to maintain photocopies of the identity documents. NGOs and other organizations which wish to conduct programmes in schools have to provide names of their team in advance for verification and records.
A separate list of 13 guidelines concerning safety of schoolchildren during transit have also been framed. Each school has to check whether school buses manned by an attendant at all times drop and pick up students in the right manner and maintain a register of persons authorized by parents to pick up their wards.
Assistant District Education Inspectors (ADEIs) have been asked to periodically verify the implementation of these guidelines.
Special focus has been placed on the publicity of the ‘Blue Whale Challenge' advisory and the sensitive subject has been dealt with in a question and answer format. All aspects of this online ‘game' has been explained including how the parents can prevent their children from participating in the risky game, how the teachers can help and the contacts to seek help from have been laid down.
Under these safety guidelines, GSCPCR has framed a set of 23 elaborate and strict rules for the prevention of sexual offences against school children on school campuses.
