Supreme Court orders implementation of child safety guidelines in schools in all states and union territories

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed implementation of the Centre’s guidelines on safety and security of children in schools in states and union territories and asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to coordinate with states and union territories and monitor implementation of the guidelines.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh noted that the Centre has notified the guidelines on safety and security of children in schools and directed the Union government to send the copies to chief secretaries or equivalent officers.
The court directed the NCPCR to coordinate its efforts with states and union territories for implementation of the guidelines. The court also asked the NCPCR to seek progress reports from states and union territories.
Following recent incidents of sexual assault of children in some schools, including Badlapur in Maharashtra, an NGO has filed a petition seeking implementation of the Centre’s guidelines on child safety and security in educational institutions across the country.
Representing the NGO ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’, senior advocate HS Phoolka informed the Supreme Court that only five states have implemented the Centre’s guidelines for child safety.
It is to be noted that the pending petition dates back to May 6, 2019, when the Supreme Court issued notices to the affected respondents.
The Bachpan Bachao Andolan said the safety of children is being compromised and they are being subjected to “sexual abuse and assault” due to the failure of state/UT governments to notify the guidelines framed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) in consultation with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
“These guidelines have been developed to establish the responsibility of school management for the safety and security of children studying in public, state-aided and private schools,” the NGO said.
The plea also said that the recent tragic incident in Badalpur, Maharashtra, where two school girls were allegedly raped by a staff member, is an eye-opener, which demonstrates that the school management has miserably failed to protect and secure the lives of children. Had these guidelines been notified by the state and union territory governments, various untoward incidents could have been avoided, it added.
The petition sought direction to the respondents to notify and implement the “Guidelines to fix the responsibility of school management for safety and security of children in schools” dated August 20, 2018, prepared by the HRD in consultation with the NCPCR.
During the pendency of the present petition, on October 1, 2021, the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, framed, formulated and implemented the “School Safety and Security Guidelines 2021” in accordance with the directions passed by the Supreme Court. These guidelines specifically and categorically mention that the State/Union Territory Governments shall notify these guidelines, the NGO said.
Subsequently, the petitioner filed a motion to amend the petition on December 20, 2022, seeking, among other things, instructions to all states/Utah governments to immediately and mandatorily notify the directives.
“It is respectfully submitted that numerous recent incidents have highlighted the failure of the school management to protect and secure the lives of children, the most vulnerable members of society,” the application states.