"auto" style="text-align: justify;">The Supreme Court has asked all states to ensure the safety of children in schools. The court has said that the states should follow the guidelines made by the central government in this matter. The court has given this direction while hearing a petition citing incidents of sexual harassment of children in many schools of the country including Badlapur in Maharashtra.
In the petition of NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, it was said that the states are not paying attention to the safety of children in schools. As a result, an incident of sexual abuse of small children took place in Badlapur, Maharashtra. Such incidents are continuously happening in different parts of the country.
It is worth noting that after the murder of a student named Pradyuman in Gurugram’s Ryan School in 2017, his father had filed a petition in the Supreme Court. In April 2018, the court had said that the central government should set guidelines on the safety of children in schools. These guidelines will be applicable to all government and private schools in the country. The Center prepared these guidelines in 2021. But except for 5 states, it is not being followed in the rest.
Senior advocate HS Phoolka, appearing for Bachpan Bachao Andolan, told a bench headed by Justice BV Nagarathna that these guidelines include steps like verification of staff, proper training of staff, CCTV monitoring, constant communication between teachers and parents, spreading awareness among children.
After listening to Phoolka’s arguments for a while, the bench said that all states should follow these guidelines. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) should send a copy of this to the Chief Secretaries of all states. NCPCR should monitor whether the states are implementing it or not. With this order, the Supreme Court settled the case.
