Rising parental vigilance sparks legal and safety debates in Mumbai schools

* A school in a western suburb asked a popular kindergarten music teacher to leave recently. His only demerit? He was a man — a "big disadvantage" in the aftermath of the Badlapur sexual harassment incident, where a housekeeping staff allegedly assaulted two pre-primary girl students
* A school trustee got into a major argument with a parent after a dog bite incident in the school’s vicinity. Though the teacher may not have been at fault, the parents blamed the school for negligence
* In yet another incident, a parent from an elite school slapped a legal notice on the management after her child suffered an injury in the pool area. She hit a faucet, which caused a deep gash on her head and had to receive eight stitches.
The parent alleged the school delayed treatment. While the parents withdrew their child from the school, the management issued a statement to all their parents, detailing the protocols they follow during emergencies.
Their standard operation procedure (SOP) categorised incidents as minor, moderate and severe, wherein the latter would involve calling the emergency services immediately and accompanying the learner to the hospital, even if a parent cannot be immediately present
With a noticeable shift in parental awareness regarding their rights, more parents are actively questioning practices within schools. This has led many parents to hold schools accountable, not only for the quality of education, but also for the incidents involving their children--be it in classrooms or on playgrounds or even during school excursions, arguing that the institutions are failing in their duty of care.
The growing tension underscores a broader debate about the responsibilities of schools versus the rights and duties of parents, especially as it relates to the safety and well-being of children.
These days, indemnity agreements are commonly used in some of the schools to protect them from legal responsibility in case something goes wrong. These agreements can range from allowing the school to post pictures of the students on social media to more serious ones such as acknowledging risks associated with physical activities or school trips.
One such indemnity agreement, to be signed by parents, mentions that the parent acknowledges the risk to the child include serious bodily harm, permanent and temporary disability and death while participating in the physical education sessions and that the parent will not hold any staff of the school responsible for it.
Parent Satyakam Gautam, who endured a harrowing experience when his daughter was involved in an accident on the school campus, said indemnity agreements are a way for school managements to protect themselves from liability. "In India, most institutions are run by charitable trusts, unlike in western countries.
These trusts aim to insulate themselves from any kind of liability. While these agreements serve as a safeguard for them, from a parent's perspective, it seems unfair," he said. "Schools are like second homes for children. In emergencies, schools shouldn't be looking at protocols for action," Gautam added.
For schools, on the other hand, managing hypervigilant parents has become increasingly challenging. Rohan Bhat, chairman of the Children’s Academy Group of Schools, said principals today are constantly on edge. “Smaller issues that would have been overlooked five to ten years ago are now blown out of proportion. Every day feels like a battlefield for them.
If a teacher tries to discipline a child, parents show up the next day with complaints. In fact, many senior teachers are now refusing to take on the role of principal,” Bhat said. He further said while schools are working hard to be extra vigilant—hiring more staff to ensure children's safety—parents need to understand that these have an impact on the school fees too.
According to legal frameworks, schools cannot be completely absolved of liability in cases of serious incidents, be it grievous injuries or sexual harassment. Lawyers such as Jamshed Mistry and Rama Subramanian who have argued in matters pertaining to child safety in school buses, said that waivers some schools make parents sign for school trips need not entirely clear school managements of liability.
Mistry said schools may have a contract with the school bus operators if they are third party to bear responsibility and liability jointly or severally. If buses and drivers are the school's own, they would bear the burden of children’s safety till their doorstep, added Mistry.
In one 2016 public interest litigation filed by the PTA United Forum that is pending before Bombay High Court which saw it fit enough to admit after hearing forum’s advocate Rama Subramanian, raised the crucial issue of school bus travel.
In its Dec 17, 2019 order, the then division bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Riyaz Chagla had said, “The anxiety of the petitioner (forum) before this court and equally of this court is that the lives of children are precious. All of them are a national asset.
Their safe transportation is, therefore, the anxiety and when they are in their enthusiasm taken to school in any vehicle including a two-wheeler, the further anxiety is of their safety. Busy and congested road and traffic jams would not make the travel or journey safe necessarily and particularly during peak hours in cities and even in rural areas.’’
The then state advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said the govt had launched a drive to curb “check, regulate, control and prevent the transportation of children by vehicles which are not permitted to operate as school buses and to curb unsafe transportation’’.
The state had cracked down and registered cases against violators. HC hoped the drive would continue with the same vigour and enthusiasm.
Anil Garg from Educational Tours and Travels Association India, though, said anybody getting injured during a picnic or any untoward incident, the travel agent is held responsible and he has to incur huge costs towards medical expenses. He recalled an incident a few years back when a water park in MMR refused to take responsibility except to give primary medical aid.
"The tour operator shifted the student to hospital and paid for all expenses besides other costs," Garg recalled, adding that the responsibility of any negligence or accident should not entirely be on the travel agent, but the school, teachers and the picnic spot authorities should also take responsibility.
Another member of the association said during any picnic or excursions or outstation tours for school students, the agent now takes out insurance for every student which could be up to a lakh rupee. "Many teachers join the tour and there are extra teachers in the name of safety. But in some cases, we have seen them do precious little to assist us during emergencies," a travel agent said.
There are more than 250 agents across Mumbai region who specialise in student tours and picnics. A staffer from Tour India Tours and Travels Pvt India which has conducted 300 school picnics in Mumbai so far, told Mumbai Mirror that the govt does not accord priority to educational travel agents. "We do not get priority in train, airline bookings or at the tourist spots. It is a major risk when any untoward incident happens and the fingers are pointed at us," he added.
Garg said, "What is shocking is that those without any knowledge of tourism are into school picnic and outstation tours. They just have contacts and colourful brochures, but no valid licence or govt permission to operate tours, no office and no GST in some cases." He further said there were instances where agents ran away with money from schools or took them to destinations which were substandard and did not adhere to child safety. "We want govt to give permission and licence to organise school trips/ picnics to only those who are registered under educational tour operators association of India," Garg added.
Other lawyers say with parental awareness of their rights on the rise, knocking the courts door on larger issue of child safety in schools has led to petitions against large heavy school bags, bus travel, first aid facilities, harsh punishments, and harassment, and barring children from examinations over parents not paying exorbitant fees.
In an Oct 2021 order, the Supreme Court had held that states could not impinge on private unaided schools' autonomy to fix and collect permissible school fees, and schools had liberty to take legal action over non-payment of school fees. But Delhi High Court had noted in 2023 that education is an important right "encompassed under right to life" and ruled that a child cannot be made to suffer or barred from attending school or taking examinations in the middle of an academic session due to non-payment of fees.
In a July 2024 ruling the SC, in a Himachal Pradesh case, quashed a case of criminal negligence against a school principal following the death of a student who entered a hostel building under construction. SC said the principal was not duty-bound to put a sign in front of the building to stop entry.
Significant in its judgment, SC said: “Where there is no duty to exercise care, negligence in the popular sense has no legal consequence. Where there is a duty to exercise care, reasonable care must be taken to avoid acts or omissions that can be reasonably foreseen to be likely to cause physical injury to persons or property. ‘’
A recent Bombay High Court order directed all schools and colleges in the state to provide medical facilities on their campuses. A govt resolution was issued to this effect by both school and higher education departments.
The guidelines were issued following the HC direction addressing a petition by a parent whose 19-year-old daughter collapsed in the class, hit her head and was unconscious in a city-based polytechnic institution. She was taken to two hospitals, but she could not survive.
The incident was from February 2016. The mother claimed institutional negligence. The new guidelines released last year direct schools to appoint coordinators, set up infirmaries, organise medical camps, maintain a list of emergency services and nearby hospitals.