A day after a massive protest over alleged sexual abuse of two preschoolers at a school in Badlapur town on the outskirts of Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has appointed an administrator to run the school.
While Kunda Pandit, Deputy Education Officer at Thane district’s primary education department, has been named as the administrator, Rajkumar Jatkar, Extension Officer (Education) of Ambernath taluka, and Vishwanath Patil, a headmaster at another school in Badlapur, have been appointed as her advisors.
The school was shut on Tuesday as well as on Wednesday in the wake of violent agitation that damaged parts of its building. Established in 1965, the school is one of the oldest education institutes in the are and is part of a complex that includes a junior and degree college. Around 10,000 students are enrolled in these institutes.
On Wednesday, the state also issued a Government Resolution (GR), directing schools to immediately implement various security measures introduced during the last few years. These include installing CCTV cameras, placing complaint boxes and forming Sakhi Savitri committees, which are responsible for ensuring the children’s safety. A couple of new bodies, including school-level ‘Student Safety Committees’ and a state-level ‘Student Saftey Review Committee’ have also been introduced.
While the schools in the state were first asked to have CCTV surveillance on their premises back in 2016, a reminder circular was issued in 2022 in the wake of a sexual assault incident at a Pune school. In its new GR, the state has now threatened the schools with withholding of their grants or even cancellation of their recognition if they fail to comply with the mandatory camera policy.
The government-run and aided schools have been asked to utilise the funds made available to them through District Planning Committees (DPC). The school heads are required to examine the footage from the cameras at least thrice a week.
The GR directs the school to do a thorough background check of the contractual staff hired through external agencies. The information of these employees is It has also recommended hiring only female staff to look after children aged below six years.
The government has also decided to form a panel headed by the state education commissioner which will periodically review the implementation of these security measures.
However, the schools claim that the funds available to them are inadequate to meet their existing needs, let alone purchasing new surveillance equipment. “The amount of DPC funds, meant for government schools, and non-salary grants given to aided schools are calculated according to the salary expenditure level in 2002. There has been no revision in this period even as the salaries have increased. We are expected to meet a variety of needs such as electricity and travel bills through these funds, leaving no money for CCTV cameras,” said Mahendra Ganpule, spokesperson for Maharashtra School Principals Association.
Ganpule also targeted the government for not recruiting the new non-teaching staff for over a decade, forcing schools to rely on temporary contractual workers. “The contractual staff suffers from insecurity and has little affinity for the institute at which they work,” he said.
