The Child Safety Monitoring Committee constituted by the city government will inspect schools in the national capital, including classrooms and toilets, to ensure minimum standards of safety for students, the Delhi High Court has ordered.
The court, while outlining the procedure to be adopted by the committee, said its chairperson will decide which school is to be inspected on a particular day and an intimation in advance will be given to the other members.
The court passed the order on a matter it has initiated on its own after the alleged sexual assault on a three-and-half-year-old girl at a school in south Delhi’s Panchsheel Enclave earlier this year.
It is alleged that the child was sexually abused by a cleaner — Arjun Kumar (33) — who works at the school.
In the order passed on November 3, the bench headed by then Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma directed that at the time of inspection, police verification reports of the guards and staff shall be supplied by the school management, especially of those deputed outside the toilets meant for girls, and if it was not done, the guards may be temporarily suspended till the time the verification was not done.
Similar direction was also issued with respect to school bus drivers. The court said the school management shall ensure breath analyser tests are conducted on drivers regularly before they boarded the bus.
The court also said no member of the committee will be allowed to inspect schools independently and all inspections will be carried out by the panel as a team headed by its chairperson, unless so permitted by the chairperson in exceptional circumstances.
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“The inspection of the school will be made during the school time, when the school is functional i.e. between 7:00 am to 2:00 pm and the members shall not leave the school premises without completing the inspection,” said the bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela.
“Inspection of the classrooms, toilets, and other analogous areas of the school may be inspected by the Chairperson for the safety of the children which shall be photographed to make the inspection process fully transparent,” the court added.
It clarified that the inspection report shall be dictated by the chairperson in the presence of the members and recorded in writing.
The court also said the members will not interact with the head of the school or its manager directly, and a check-list shall be supplied to them at the time of inspection in order to give them an opportunity to furnish their comments in relation to the compliance.
