Haryana to carry out safety audits of all Gurgaon schools

“If a new Act of this nature is brought in, parents will be relieved of the extra fee charged by schools and schools will have to ensure quality education”.

Haryana government will soon carry out mandatory third-party audits of school accounts and safety measures. The government will bring in a new legislation in the regard in the monsoon session of the state assembly next year, said additional chief secretary (education) KK Khandelwal on Wednesday.

The government initiative comes in the wake of the murder of a Class 2 student at Ryan International School, Bhondsi, on September 8 morning. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

He said schools would be ranked on the basis of audits. Lower ranking schools will have to pay a fine and their fee structure will also be tweaked. The government initiative comes in the wake of the murder of a Class 2 student at Ryan International School, Bhondsi, on September 8 morning.

Khandelwal, who interacted with the media in Gurgaon on Wednesday, said the subdivisional magistrates would be the nodal officer in their respective areas and would engage agencies to conduct the audit. The SDM himself will not visit or conduct the audit. Also, a safety ranking would be given to each school across the state, including private ones.

“If the ranking of any school is found to be low, its fee will be decreased. This will also solve the problem of parents not being satisfied with the quality of infrastructure and education in certain schools,” Khandelwal said.

Parents have welcomed the announcement and said the move will ensure that schools comply with the guidelines. They are hopeful that an audit of this sort will help improve the quality of education in schools.

“If a new Act of this nature is brought in, parents will be relieved of the extra fee charged by schools and schools will have to ensure quality education,” said Preeti Ahuja, a parent of a class 8 student.

Khandelwal said some instructions have already been issued under the Haryana Education Rules and they have tried to integrate the Gurgaon police guidelines for safety of children in schools.

“If there is no penalty or fine, how will we enforce guidelines? We will create a separate wing for private schools under the private school regulation under Haryana Education Act,” Khandelwal said.

The Act also says that each school should be inspected by the district education officer once a year and there is a fixed performa which needs to be filled by the officials during the visit.