HC asks for school-wise report on compliance with student safety GR

The GR issued on May 13 was based on the recommendations of an 18-member expert committee appointed in September 2024 as per directions of the high court

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday instructed the school education department to depute officers for visiting schools across the state to check if they were complying with the government resolution (GR) dated May 13 for ensuring safety and security of school students. The officers must prepare a report with data on every school in the state which must be submitted to the court every four months, the division bench of justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Dr Neela Gokhale said while hearing a suo motu petition initiated after sexual abuse of two girls in a pre-primary school in Badlapur in August 2024.

A file photo of Bombay high court. (HT photo)

The GR issued on May 13 was based on the recommendations of an 18-member expert committee appointed in September 2024 as per directions of the high court. The committee was asked to suggest safety norms for students in schools and steps for effectively implementing existing laws including the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. It was headed by retired high court judges Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi and Sadhana Jadhav, and included retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Meeran Borwankar, the women and child welfare commissioner, the school education commissioner, two school principals, members of nonprofits, a psychiatrist, and representatives of students’ parents.

The committee recommended a range of measures in its report submitted to the government. These included character verification of school staff, schools taking responsibility for safe transportation of children, installation of CCTV cameras in schools, lessons for children on distinguishing between good touch, bad touch and cybercrime. The committee also recommended that the toll-free number 1098 be displayed at prominent places including male and female washrooms in every school.

In February this year, the court had directed the state government to study the recommendations of the committee and respond to the same within two weeks.

On Tuesday, when the suo motu petition came up for hearing, additional public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde informed the court that the GR, incorporating recommendations of the expert committee, was issued by the government on May 13.

“You will now have to depute officers to ensure compliance of the GR by schools,” the court said. The officers will have to monitor the POCSO e-Box and the Chirag app, which facilitate online reporting of child sexual abuse and related cases, and submit a detailed, school-wise report on compliance with the GR.

“Initially we want the state to submit a report once every four months. Later on, it can be once every six months. We want data on every school across cities and talukas in the state,” the division bench said.

The court asked the state government to create a format for compliance reports by schools and set up a reporting mechanism. It also said that the GR was not easily accessible on the state government site.

“We ourselves had to rack our brains to find it. How are the parents supposed to find it? The schools should send across the GR to parents like report cards. Every parent should know about it,” the court observed while directing the school education and sports department to upload the GR on their website and display it prominently.

The court asked the state to submit a compliance report, which will be taken up during the next hearing in July.