Haryana directs pvt schools to submit self certified affidavits about drivers, buses by today

The private school bus crash involving a “drunk driver” in Mahendergarh district of Haryana on a gazetted holiday on Thursday has brought under the spotlight the September 15, 2017 “regulations on school safety”.
The guidelines that run into 23- pages and were issued by the Haryana directorate of school education directs to form “safety committees” at district, subdivision and school level, officials said.
The objective of forming committees is to ensure the implementation of the regulations on safety norms and to provide for a standing mechanism to have supportive supervision of the schooling system.
The district-level committees have to hold meetings “once every three months or earlier”; the sub-divisional level committee has to meet “every month” and the school safety committee has to review the security apparatus of the school every week.
“There is a big question mark whether the guidelines issued were followed in letter and spirit. When was the last time meetings were held by the safety committees? We shall investigate the role of safety committees also and fix the responsibility,” a top government functionary said asking not to be identified.
As per the safety regulations Haryana school education department had approved, the district-level committee will have “a general superintendence and control” over the safety issues of the schools in their respective areas.
The sub-division level committee was mandated to keep a close eye to ensure that the compliances are being made as per directions, while the school level committees have to attend to the “specific day to day problems” with regard to the safety concerns of the schools.
The district school safety committee is headed by the deputy commissioner (DC), while other members of this panel are the superintendent of police (SP), civil surgeon, etc. and the district education officer (DEO) as member secretary.
“This (district) committee shall take steps to get the schools inspected at regular intervals, through subdivision level committees or may inspect itself taking suo moto cognizance of any incident, for ensuring adherence to the regulations on safety norms,” the guidelines say (HT has the copy of the report).
The district committee has to periodically carry out awareness campaign among the students, and teachers and prepare publicity material for maintaining “safe standards in the schools” and “prevention of any untoward incident relating to schools.”
The committee at the sub-divisional level is headed by the sub-divisional magistrate and the principal of the school is the chairman of the school safety committee.
“Since, children spend a large part of their day in schools and while travelling to and from their schools …their safety during this time is exceedingly important. Cases of abuse of children on the school premises, or even accidents, come up from time to time that can be reasonably prevented if some standard operating procedure is followed,” the guidelines preamble says.
Six-point directions issued
Underscoring the urgency of “timely supervision” of the September 15, 2017 school safety instructions, the education department on Friday directed district education officers (DEOs), district elementary education officers (DEEOs) and all block education officers (BEOs) to obtain a self-certified undertaking from all schools affirming that concerned school is complying with all directions and conditions.
The DEOs will then furnish their certificate stating that they have obtained an undertaking from each school. “If any school is found running in violation of these regulations and Haryana School Education Rules-2003, the strict action shall be taken against the schools as well as the district education officer,” reads an order issued by the director secondary education.
The district and block-level education officers were directed to hold a meeting with the school management committee/principal of schools at 2pm on Saturday. During the meeting, the private schools will have to submit a self-certified affidavit that all vehicles being used for the transport of students are statutorily certified and drivers are suitably qualified. The list of defaulter schools will be shared with the DC concerned by April 25.
179 school buses impounded for violating Motor Vehicle Act
Transport authorities impounded 179 school buses across the state on Friday for plying without fulfilling the mandatory requirements under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Officials said 836 buses across 22 districts were checked by the transport officials and 344 were challaned for various violations. A maximum of 24 school buses each were impounded in Karnal and Sirsa districts, as per the official data. Every school bus checked in Sirsa district by transport authorities was found violating the law and rules. Officials said out of 185 school buses checked in Sirsa, 161 were challaned and 24 were impounded.