Govt wants pvt schools ranked on safety, infra
NEW DELHI: The government wants schools across the country to be ranked and categorised on the basis of their infrastructure and the facilities they provide to ensure uniformity and find out the gaps and fix them, officials have said.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) under the ministry of women and child development (WCD) raised this issue with the ministry of human resource and development (HRD) during the meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) held on January 15.
The board is an apex body that advises the Central and state governments.
A senior HRD ministry official said the commission pointed out that they already had a manual with a checklist for safety audits in schools based on facilities, emotional and personal safety of children, schools’ readiness to manage disaster situations arising from earthquakes, floods etc and cyber safety.
The official said that it is important that private schools be categorised for effective implementation of the manual and for its proper monitoring.
“Though regulating private schools is a state subject, the ministry of human resource and development can provide a model framework to the states with directions to categorise the private schools. This will not only ensure uniformity, it will also help find out the gaps and fix them,” said a senior official.
“The information can be shared with parents too so that they can make an informed choice while selecting the schools,” the officer added.
According to another senior HRD ministry official, they are examining the feasibility of the proposal.
“Private schools except those under the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) are in state’s domain and issues have to be taken up with the states. The issue is being examined how the ministry can intervene,” the official said.
The commission also pointed out that the categorisation of schools will help streamline various other aspects of school education such as fee regulation in private schools.
The CBSE, which has over 18,000 schools in the country, has also been planning to grade schools. However, the focus it said would be on academic output and less on infrastructure.
The board also issued instructions to its affiliated schools, asking them to conduct safety audits, install CCTV cameras at vulnerable areas inside their premises and limit the entry of outsiders.
Its advisory in September came after an eight-year-old student of a Gurgaon school was murdered allegedly by a senior student. The case triggered protests in the city, raising alarm over the state of security for children.