Maneka Gandhi, Prakash Javadekar To Hold Meet On Safety Protocol In Schools

Union ministers Maneka Gandhi and Prakash Javadekar will hold a high-level meeting tomorrow to develop a protocol for educational institutions to ensure safety of students following incidents of child sexual abuse in schools, a government official said.

Officials of the ministries of women and child development and human resource development as well as representative of the National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), CBSE, NCERT, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan will be a part of this meeting.

The conference comes in the backdrop of the murder of a Class II student inside Ryan International School in Gurgaon for allegedly resisting sexual assault and the rape of a five-year-old girl in a private school in Shahdara.

The two ministries will develop a set of guidelines and protocols for schools to ensure that children are "protected from any kind of abuse or physical and mental harm", a Ministry of Women and Child Development spokesperson said.

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has also discussed the matter with HRD minister Prakash Javadekar over phone and recommended that women be employed as support staff, including bus drivers and conductors.

She also stressed on the need to have strict norms for employing non-teaching staff, according to the official. The Supreme Court yesterday issued a notice to the Centre and the Haryana police on a plea by the father of the Ryan student seeking a CBI probe into the murder as well as framing of guidelines to ensure safety of children.

The father, Barun Chandra Thakur, has sought laying down of guidelines by which "liability, responsibility and accountability of the management of the school" across the country can be fixed in matters relating to safety and security of children at educational institutions.