Post Ryan, How Are Schools Gearing Up To Boost Security?

A lot has been spoken about the murder incident at Ryan International School, Gurugram, when the seven year old Pradyuman Thakur was found dead with his throat slit in the washroom of the school, while his classroom was merely 10 steps away.

While the above mentioned institution reopened only yesterday, with 40 new CCTV cameras and a new security agency guarding its premises, weeks after the murder of the class 2 student, there is still an unrest amongst parents.

Another horrific incident was recorded in the premises of the Tagore Public School, Shahdara when a five year old girl was allegedly raped by the school peon in a classroom.

So, how do we move forward from this? Are schools taking the necessary precautions that are necessary to ensure the safety of students?

Madhu Parashar, Principal, Playway Nursery School says how running a Play School brings extra responsibility on shoulders and one needs to be extra cautious.

“Things are being taken care of e.g. during school hours no male staff enters the area containing the class rooms, all cctv cameras are working properly, maids accompany the children to and fro in the cabs, verification of the staff is done etc. All these points have been considered but there is always a room for improvement”, says Parashar.

Similar sentiments were conveyed by Nita Arora, Principal, Sri Venkateshwar International School who post the series of incidents is extra careful with the instructions laid down and revised by the authorities from time to time.

“We carefully examine all the instructions laid down and revised from time to time by the concerned authorities, NDMA and implement them. Parents and school work in association to ensure a safer and joyful environment”, according to Arora.

Apart from being extra precautions and strict follow up of the laid down instructions, the schools trying to avail the best out of technology.

“We have deployed one -of its kind safety system. This Indoor Location Tracking system uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) chip within the school premises to provide near real time information to parents. We are already running the pilot project of the same and by 1st of October it will be implemented in the entire school”, says Rupa Chakravarty, Principal, Suncity School, Gurugram.

She further adds to mention that the school has around 304 CCTV cameras and 60 cameras in the school buses.

“All cameras are manned. Each and every floor of the school building has lady guards to keep a check”, Chakravarty.

However the count of schools with serious security concerns is very limited with nearly 90% of the schools with limited or almost no proper security systems.

Krishna RK, CEO, Blue Tree Consulting Services says, “In today’s rapidly growing digital world, we believe that educational institutions should adopt proactive technologies to create a Safe School ecosystem and prevent any undesired incidents from happening.”

In conclusion to this debacle that has taken the country by storm, there is still a long road ahead of us that needs to identify areas of improvement and adequate implementation is required on the same. More importantly, now that the schools are bound to take a step regarding security of children inside the premises but will this ever become an issue of priority?