Ahead of reopening, schools race against time for mandatory fitness certificates

Kochi: Most schools in the state are set to reopen on June 1, but many state syllabus schools in Ernakulam fear that they may not be able to start classes from Monday, as they are yet to get fitness certificates from local self-govt (LSG) bodies. The fitness certificate is mandatory for all schools — govt, aided and unaided — following the state board to enable them to conduct classes.School authorities said inspections in several institutions were conducted only recently. “Inspections were conducted at the school by engineers of Kochi corporation, but we are yet to receive the fitness certificate. This is a matter of concern for the school,” said principal of a govt school in Edappally.Raghu P, a teacher at a govt school under Kalady panchayat, said their school was still waiting for certification from the local body. “Although the inspections are in the larger interest of the students, the process could have been completed earlier, our school have been asked to complete minor renovation works, including clearing overgrown grass in the school ground, this has been completed and we hope the certificate is provided at the earliest,” the teacher said.The delay is attributed to confusion and disagreements between departments over the responsibility for certifying the fitness of schools. Earlier, an order by health and family welfare department had directed school heads to obtain certificates from six different departments to secure fitness approval. The move drew protests from school authorities, following which the order was withdrawn, and the responsibility was assigned to assistant engineers of LSG institutions.Subsequently, state govt issued a revised order introducing a 17-point checklist for fitness inspections. Under the revised guidelines, assistant engineers were directed to inspect the structural strength of buildings, safety of boundary walls, absence of dangerous pits and the safety of trees and towers within school compounds.“The new guidelines place special emphasis on electrical safety and sanitation. Authorities must ensure that the electrical wiring in schools is safe and that fences are installed around transformers,” stated a directive to assistant engineers.However, engineers later raised objections regarding electrical safety certification, stating that they did not possess technical expertise.Following a high-level meeting of senior officials of LSGD as well as education department held earlier this week, a consensus was reached that local body engineers would certify aspects related to sanitation, structural safety and health, while schools would separately obtain electrical fitness certificates from the authorities concerned.A senior official of education department said that their aim is to give fitness certificates to all eligible schools before June 1, and no school without a fitness certificate would be permitted to function. The official also urged school authorities to coordinate with the local bodies concerned to ensure timely completion of the certification process.