Apart from students, instructions to ensure safety of teachers, especially lady teachers have been introduced in the all new manual of The Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE).

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in the city, chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon on Tuesday said, “ The safety and security of all our students in schools, affiliated to the council has always been and will continue to be our primary concern. The new safety manual has been designed to provide children with safe and secure, caring environment. The book is meant to serve as a guideline for all schools affiliated to the CISCE.”

Mr Arathoon informed that while the manual will have exhaustive instructions for students, it will also include instructions to ensure the safety of teachers, especially lady teachers.

With 400 schools in the state and about 2,300 school all over the country affiliated to the council, the authorities are urging schools to implement stringent safety measures which school administrations will need to implement these measures wherever needed.

The council’s existing safety manual was published in the year 2005 but after repeated incidents in the city and all over the country which brought out gaping holes in the security measures undertaken by schools, the council authorities felt the need to upgrade their manual and include several new features.

The schools have been asked to set up a school safety club ~ a committee that involves teachers, parents and students along with the school management ~ to play important roles in adopting practice of periodic and repeated safety guidelines.

The safety manual will also focus on securing school premises where schools will be asked to be receptive to adopt new technologies to ensure the safety of its students and to allocate a special budget for the same.

Schools have to create an awareness related to all operational hazards in schools associated with electrical, fire, water, gas, lab chemicals, structural risks.

Schools will be asked to give special attention to the psychological and emotional well being of students. The council has informed that schools will have to identify forms of verbal, emotional, sexual, mental or physical abuse by teachers, classmates, parents, non-teaching staff or any other and subsequent redressal through awareness and adequate precautions. The safety manual will reach the schools by third week of April, Mr Arathoon said.