Most schools violate safety rules: Officials

HYDERABAD: A day after a 14-year-old Class 10 student died after falling from her school building in Nagole, school education department officials claim that not just the Nagaarjuna High School but many others institutes also fail to meet safety and security norms.
According to a government order issued on December 16, 2017, “safety and security of children in schools lies primarily with school authorities”.While it is bounden duty of the school management to ensure safety and security of students, education officials said that many fail to adhere to the norms.
“As per government norms, schools are expected to have window grills, parapet wall of about five feet in height, run primary classes on the ground floor, and have multiple entry/exits for safety purposes. However, almost 70-80% schools are blatantly violating these norms,” said a district education officer on condition of anonymity.
Following the Nagole school incident, Balala Hakula Sangam (BHS), a child rights organisation, sent a letter to Telangana chief secretary Shailendra Kumar Joshi and education principal secretary Janardhan Reddy seeking safety measures in private schools.
“Several schools are run out of commercial complexes, where safety norms are not followed,” said Achyutha Rao, honorary president of BHS. If the government relaxes fire safety norms further, it will only result in more untoward incidents, and death of students due to negligence.”
In view of temporary closure of Nagole school, BHS has sought shifting of other students to nearby schools until a final decision is taken by the school education department.