The Education Ministry has directed all States/UT to implement “Guidelines on School Safety and Security” which are in alignment with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) guidelines.

These guidelines, inter-alia, contain provisions for fixing the accountability of the school management in the matter of the safety and security of children studying in Government, Government-aided, and Private Schools.

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To strengthen the procedures, accountability and safeguard the students, in pursuance of the Supreme Court order, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education has developed the ‘Guidelines on School Safety and Security-2021’.

The guidelines provide measures for preventive education, accountability of various stakeholders, reporting procedure, legal provisions concerned, support and counselling, and a safe environment. These guidelines are crucial to accessibility, inclusiveness, and positive learning outcomes.

The guidelines, which are advisory, detail the accountability of various stakeholders and different departments in ensuring the safety and security of children in schools.

The purpose of these guidelines is to create an understanding among all stakeholders, including students and parents, on the need for co-creating a safe and secure school environment for the holistic development of children.

These will also make different stakeholders aware of the acts, policies, procedures, and guidelines already available on different aspects of safety and security — physical, socio-emotional, cognitive, and specific to natural disasters as well.

The purpose is to empower different stakeholders and enable clarity on their role in the implementation of this guideline and fix accountability for keeping children safe and secure in schools, including while children are transported to and fro, to attend school or go back to their homes in a school transport on School Management and Principals and Teachers in Private/Unaided Schools.

A key purpose is to emphasise the ‘Zero Tolerance Policy’ against any negligence on the part of any individual or management when it comes to the safety and security of children in schools, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The guidelines had been circulated to all States/UTs/Autonomous Bodies of DoSEL and Stakeholder Ministries on October 1, 2021.

These guidelines are uploaded on the website of DoSEL at https://dsel.education.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-10/guidelines_sss.pdf.