CII meet on children�s safety: Concern over rising atrocities

Jamshedpur, Nov. 18: With the number of deaths, injuries, rapes and abuses of children in schools rising by the day, there is a greater need for foolproof child safety standards, a CII session on making schools safer and smarter for school leadership team, was told.
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Attended by over 50 principals, management committee members and other school staff members, the session was organized by CII Jharkhand in partnership with the Bengaluru-based CII institute of quality with the objective of helping schools assess and understand the status of their campus and how they can avert potential risks.
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�Not just school authorities, but all sections of society, including parents, must come forward and join in such an exercise. We cannot take our children�s safety and lives for granted,� said. Indu Singh, chairman, education sub-committee, CII (eastern region). She further said, �Safety is not only about dealing with physical aspects but also the impact of the environment around us including the quality of food, water, cleanliness etc.�
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Adarsh Agarwal, chairman, CII, Jamshedpur zonal council, and managing director of Jamipol Ltd said, �School is one of the best institution to in cult the best practices in children since childhood and this practices makes them safer and smarter throughout the life and that�s why schools should devote a lot more time, energy and money to monitoring and screening through modern technologies�. He also mentioned that school should provide the training session to their student to deal with the increasing cyber crime.
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Tapas Sahu, convener, CII Jharkhand education panel, agreed, saying, �This is a dire imperative in the context that 19 out of 100,000 children in India die of safety-related accidents � a figure according to UNICEF, is the highest in the world.� Sahu also informed that CII IQ is already working with school around the country to help in providing the Quality Education. He also pointed out that CII Jharkhand Education panel is doing awareness campaign with a NGO to counsel children on sexual abuse. He further elaborated on various initiatives of Yuva Choupal and Project Masoom, which CII- Yi Jharkhand Chapter is already focusing this year
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A Senthil Kumaran, principal counselor and head, CII Institute of Quality (Bengaluru), who conducted the session, cited a newspaper report which says that one in every two children in India is subjected to child sexual abuse, while 80% of such cases go unreported. �According to World health Organisation (WHO), 41 percent of children die because of a lack of road safety � which is also the highest in the world,� he said.
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Kumaran also recalled a few recent incidents of rape and physical abuses in schools in Bengaluru and a few Metros in the country. �It is time for us all to revisit our safety and security practices,� he said. He also emphasized that �It is important for our school provide a conducive environment to facilitate learning and knowledge and CII through its education initiative is committed to make our school safer and smarter with scientific processes which are culturally sustainable.�
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Schools need to understand the risk areas and assess the impact to ensure a conducive environment of learning can be created for every child to unleash his/ her potential. This has to be supported by defined strategies structure, supporting policies, measureable processes.
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After the session,�Kabila Agrawal, principal and director Mount Litera said, �That safety of student is utmost concerned for the school and it�s time to Stop Teaching and Start Reaching.�
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�Imteyaz Hussain, principal, Vivek Vidyalay, appraised the session�said, �It was a very informative and interactive session in which the multidimensional aspect and good practices to of student safety was discussed in the best possible way.�