Every Parent In India Is Wondering, Just How Safe Are Our Kids At School?

Every parent in India, is shocked to their inner core on reading about the horrific murder of a 7-year old child in Ryan International School, Gurugram. The motive- barbaric and the final act- unheard of. As parents, what are we doing to ensure the safety of our child at school?

We know of tons of parents who sacrificed their work and a lot of other comforts to be physically accessible to their child and of a 4-hour visit to a nearby school doesn’t guarantee the safety of their child, we need to think twice about the era in which we are raising our fledglings.

The horrific incident, second in the schools, run by the same management, in the last one year, has sent shockwaves across the nation, and people are voicing out their opinions loud and clear through the social medium.

#SaveOurChildren, #SafeSchool, #ProtectOurKids are some of the popular hashtags that are trending on social where parents and celebrities are letting out their opinions.

I am ashamed and disgusted that every other day children are being raped and killed in schools. Today we need #SafeSchools. 1/3

— Kailash Satyarthi (@k_satyarthi) September 10, 2017

If you are a parent, please keep the pressure on so that your child’s school is stringent about security. #RyanInternationalSchool

— Shuchi Singh Kalra (@shuchikalra) September 10, 2017

As we pen this article, we come across another news where a five-year-old girl in Tagore Public School, Gandhi Nagar, was allegedly raped by a school peon. The child is now in a critical condition while the accused has been arrested.

Stronger security measures needed- when will we wake up?

Jyotsna Mohan Bhargava, who has worked as a senior news anchor with NDTV, has written about this horrific incident, where she questions the loopholes and security lapses in a reputed school administration that got us all parents, worried.

How was a bus conductor walking unnoticed in the school corridors and then using a washroom that should be reserved only for students? If his admission is correct, how was a man who can so easily knife a little boy driving countless children to school every day? It will be unfair to generalize, but when it comes to children, most of us are paranoid first and reasonable later. This was a student who didn’t even take the school bus. Where does that leave the majority of us, many with children still so innocent that they refer to their bus drivers and conductors as the familiar “bus wale bhaiyya?”

Shocking Statistics On Child Safety:

A shocking report published in India Today tells us that according to a  survey conducted by humanitarian aid organisation, World Vision India, one in every two children is a victim of sexual abuse. A UNICEF report also highlights four major areas of concern about the safety of children in India. It said that majority of abuses of children was reported for the age group of 5 to 11 years.

Teach your kids to voice their views:

Manika Sharma, the Director of The Shri Ram Schools, Delhi-NCR has voiced her opinion in The Indian Express where she ascertains the role of parents in explaining to kids about their safety and how we can raise them safe in today’s digital world.

As a parent, it is important that we teach our children to be assertive in order to protect themselves against incidents of bullying and emotional exploitation. And most importantly, make our homes a place of trust and support.

Take feedback seriously: 

Pushpa Girimanji, who writes on consumer law and safety, for the Hindustan Times questions the blind eye that schools turn towards parents’ concerns.

What’s absolutely shocking in this case is the callous negligence of the school in allowing adults, including school bus drivers and conductors, to use the washroom meant for children. Any school with even an iota of concern for the safety of its pupils, would be aware of the risk of abuse that young children face at school and during travel to and from the school and the innumerable cases of molestation that have come to light in recent years.

We moms, at KSP, discussed the lack of safety measures and a strong voice from parents’ side to question the methods adopted by the schools. Silent candle light protests or violent attacking of institutions may not be the solution for this incident. The guilty need to be dealt with severely, that sends a strong message out to the perpetrators of crime and school managements to focus more on the child’s security and safety. We don’t hesitate to wait in long queues to get a hold of the admission form for our children, so why should parents withhold their fears with regard to their child’s safety for the few hours in the school premises?

The concerns and requests, often fall on deaf ears, some say. When private schools can afford air-conditioned buses and classrooms, why do they not focus on a safe and tested security approach to protect the children? Why do schools lose precious minutes in providing a first aid or rushing to the hospital or even alerting the parents? Who is going to take responsibility of the scores of students lining up near the gates of the schools across the country? The questions are aplenty and sadly, we are still searching.

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