Delhi school tragedy prompts Goa schools to beef up security measures

  • | Thursday | 14th September, 2017

Panaji: The tragic case of a seven-year-old boy who was found murdered inside Ryan International School, Delhi, has brought schools in Goa under the scanner yet again. While parents are sceptical of their children's safety within school premises, schools are in the process of beefing up their security measures. But after the Delhi incident, we have been receiving more enquiries for CCTV installation in and around the campus. "Most schools in the state are already equipped with cameras to monitor their students. The rules made it mandatory for schools to install CCTV cameras, have security guards at the school gate, maintain an entry register etc.The Dona Paula-based Our Lady of the Rosary High School for girls was among the first few to have taken to installation of CCTV cameras and fortification of security measures within their campus.

Panaji: The tragic case of a seven-year-old boy who was found murdered inside Ryan International School, Delhi, has brought schools in Goa under the scanner yet again. While parents are sceptical of their children's safety within school premises, schools are in the process of beefing up their security measures."Most schools in the state are already equipped with cameras to monitor their students. But after the Delhi incident, we have been receiving more enquiries for CCTV installation in and around the campus. We have been giving at least two or three quotations a day," the proprietor of a CCTV service in Margao said.The last time schools had begun pulling up their socks was in 2013, when a minor girl from a Vasco-based school was raped within the institution. The government had then issued guidelines instructing every school to impose certain regulations. The rules made it mandatory for schools to install CCTV cameras, have security guards at the school gate, maintain an entry register etc.The Dona Paula-based Our Lady of the Rosary High School for girls was among the first few to have taken to installation of CCTV cameras and fortification of security measures within their campus."We had cameras within the school building to monitor students, but in the light of the recent events, having a camera at the main gate help us be more vigilant about visitors," said principal Sr Antoinette Colaco.The front gate of Sanjay School, Porvorim is still under construction by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), but the management has asked the security guards deployed there to be more alert following the Delhi incident. "Being a special school, we have to take care of our students every minute," headmaster Tatu Kudalkar said.Director of education Gajanan Bhat, said, "The measures we have taken up following the Vasco rape case are more stringent than Delhi-based schools. Not a single incident of rape has been reported in Goa's schools since then. Inspection is done once a year to ensure that schools follow these rules."Regular checks, however, are a need of the hour, opined Sandhya Kaloke, secretary, Disha Charitable Trust, who runs a special school in the capital city."The education department must have regular inspections of schools. This will ensure that the rules are being strictly followed and the security of students maintained," she said.Orlando Pacheco, a concerned parent from Margao, said student security must not only be limited to school gates, "As institutions, schools just charge fees and give lessons; security is not a priority for them. The government has to intervene and ask school administrators to put certain things in place, like more female staff on campus and background checks of guards and non-teaching staff," he said.

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