Not only the government schools in the district lack in basic infrastructure, but they also compromise on the safety of their students. Shocking it may be, but not a single government school in Gurgaon has fire clearance. The negligent attitude of school administrations show that they have no qualms about putting the lives of the students in danger. Meanwhile, both fire and education departments toss the ball into each other’s court. Gurgaon has around 592 government schools, including 49 higher secondary, 69 senior secondary schools, 99 middle schools and 375 primary schools. Around 1,16,000 students study in these schools. However, it appears that the education department is not bothered about protecting these children from any mishap.
An RTI reveals that the fire department has no details available regarding fire safety measures to be adopted by the government schools’ buildings in Gurgaon. The RTI had sought details about fire safety no objection certificates (NOC) issued to government school building in the last ten years. The reply by the fire department states that no NOCs have been issued to any government school in Gurgaon, and no government school has a fire NOC.
Surprisingly, the reply defeats the Fire Act which states that “on completion of the construction of the high-rise building, a NOC shall be obtained. In the absence of such certificate, the owner shall not occupy lease or sell the building” and “the government may, by notification, declare that no place within the area, as may be specified, shall be used for any one or more of the purposes, which in its opinion constitute a fire risk”. But the fire department says that they can only issue the NOC when someone applies for it.
However, when contacted the district education officer (DEO) said that the fire department’s visit is not something which is regular to government schools. “There is no provision for the fire department to visit the government schools on regular basis. But if they feel that something is lacking, then they can conduct an inspection and tell us what fire-fighting system to install,” said Dr Manoj Kaushik, DEO.
