SDMC rolls out safety guidelines for school kids

NEW DELHI: South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Tuesday issued guidelines to ensure safety and security of children in SDMC schools. The decision was taken after a meeting called by SDMC Mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat.

As per the guidelines, the school administration has to ensure proper lighting in the toilet and the boundary wall of the school should be increased to sufficient height to avoid any intrusion inside the school premises. The teachers have been instructed to ensure that no student is allowed to go to toilet alone and a companion is allowed to accompany the student going to the toilet for a nature’s call. Further, it should be ensured that girl’s toilets are exclusively used by the girls or female staff while the nursery students will be accompanied with an Aaya. Students should not leave the school premises during the school hours without the company of the teacher. The Principals have to ensure that all CCTV cameras installed in the schools are fully functional, it added.

The schools will have to maintain a visitor’s register and fix a time for the visitors coming in the school. Further, school attendants have been deployed at the main gate to keep vigil of the students or visitors.

The guidelines say that it is the duty of the school administration to ensure that mid-daymeal staff of the NGOS should have proper Id-cards and their antecedents have also been verified by the police. The school will have to prominently display the telephone numbers of the police control room, local police station and name and number of the beat officer on the notice board.

“Security of children in SDMC schools is of prime importance. It is our priority to provide a fearless and safe atmosphere in the school as the students facing fear are bound to become mentally weak. Hence, the compliance of the guidelines is imperative and unavoidable,” the Mayor said.

Sehrawat added that as per the guidelines, the principals of the schools are supposed to ensure safety audit of their respective schools along with school management committee members and staff of the school as per standard safety norms. GURUGRAM: The Indian parliament may be struggling to get consensus for 33 per cent reservation for women but there will not be such difficulty in the civic body of Gurugram where 37 per cent of women are sure to be councillors due to government’s reservation.

Twelve out of 35 wards are reserved for women this Municipal elections. The Haryana government has further announced that the mayor selected will also be a woman councillor.

While the participation of female candidates are expected to bring in the women power, many voters expressed skepticism as it is their husbands who are the key policy makers.

The reservation of particular wards has resulted in political parties like BJP and INLD have provided an opportunity to their women political workers to be the councillors.

While 40 per cent of the candidates elected for 35 municipal wards by the BJP are women, seven out of 20 wards contested by INLD are female candidates.

Not only the political parties but a large number of women candidates are also contesting as independents.

Even as the Haryana government claims that this is another major move towards women emancipation in the state, many voters still are not sure of their role in whole.

Many voters have high- lighted that behind the scenes it is not the female candidates who are calling the shots or will be the key decision makers after the process.

“Every hoarding where there is a woman candidate there is also the picture of her husband in the back ground. In my view, the real emancipation of women will come when they will be independent to take the key decisions. Unfortunately that does not seems to be the case in today’s scenario,” said Anjali Bhargava, a city resident.

“Ultimately it depends upon the will of the woman to come out of the shadow and take the initiative to improve the system. In the democratic process you will ultimately be known by your work than the name,” said Rama Rani Rathee, former councillor.