FICCI recently organized a seminar on “Safety and Security in Schools” with an objective to address different aspects of safety of children at schools in India underlining necessity for a holistic approach. This requires a greater intervention of all the stakeholders – educational institutions, local government, security consultants and solution providers, law enforcement agencies and also parents.
In his Keynote Address, Mr. O. P. Singh, IPS, Director General, CISF, emphasised that the security of the children is a multidimensional issue and at present implementation and monitoring is a challenge which need to be addressed in a holistic manner. School administration should consider consulting professional risk consultants and security managers. He articulated that day-to-day functioning lies with the school administration. He stated that the safety and security should be an integral part of the school management. CISF is equipped with cutting edge technology and highly skilled manpower which makes it specialised security force to deal with diversified security requirements & risk assessment across various sectors including schools, he added.
Ms Manjari Jaruhar, Chair, FICCI Committee on Private Security Industry and Former Special DG, CISF, in her welcome address highlighted the importance of shared responsibilities of schools, parents, enforcement agencies and media on the safety and security of the students. She further cautioned media to be tolerant and be mindful not to find faults with just one playing the entire ecosystem.
Mr. Prabhat Jain, Chairman, FICCI ARIZE and Director, Pathways World School in his theme Address mentioned that students devote 180 – 200 days in a year which constitute 18% of their time within school premises while 72% of the time spent outside. “We need to thus look at the issue of safety and security holistically and adopt a balanced approach in developing mechanisms to ensure the safety of every child”
FICCI along with EY and Mundkur Law Partners also presented a framework of the proposed study, “Student Safety in K-12 schools: a Report, Primer and Toolkit”. The proposed study seeks to cover various dimensions of safety which all schools can used as a ready reckoner to map their risks and plan ahead.
