Pune: In order to ensure that the children are safe in schools and to inform the teachers about security measures they need to take in their schools, Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla interacted with school principals and teachers on Tuesday. Shukla said the ‘Police Kaka’ initiative, that was launched a couple of months ago, has reached 1,122 schools and the rest of the schools would be covered soon.
Shukla said, “The Gurgaon incident was very unfortunate and now it’s our responsibility to ensure that the children in our schools are safe. With a few basic steps, we can take better care of our students. It is mandatory for schools to do a character/ background verification of all teaching and especially the non-teaching staff including, clerks, peons, drivers, conductors, gardeners and sweepers. CCTV cameras should be installed everywhere in the school, including closed, dark as well as open areas. Some parents have suggested there should be CCTV cameras in the school buses and all of these must be checked regularly.”
Shukla appealed to teachers to be a little more sensitive, as the parents send the children to the school and believe that they will be safe there. “After the Gurgaon incident, the parents are more concerned and scared and they have been sending their doubts and suggestions to the police. Some said there weren’t any lady attendants in certain schools, while some complained that the maids and peons in the school spend time talking to each other and neglect the children. I want the principals present here to take care of all these issues as soon as possible. Also, parents-teachers meetings should be held regularly and the CCTV footage should be shown to the parents at these meetings,” Shukla added.
DCP Ravindra Kadam said, “The problem is that we don’t realise how serious these issues happening around us are until they happen to us. We need to be more sensitive about the incidents happening around us and act accordingly.” The principals and other school representatives spoke about the security measures they took at their schools and clarified their doubts with Shukla.
