The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Adhere to safety norms, HMs told

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Others

Adhere to safety norms, HMs told

By Our Staff Reporter

PUDUKOTTAI, JULY 18. The Education Department authorities here on Saturday convened a meeting of headmasters of government and aided high and higher secondary schools to stress the need to adopt safety measures in educational institutions.

They issued a circular to all high and higher secondary schools (government and aided) in the district listing out the steps to be taken to ensure proper safety standards in schools.

The district has a total of 185 government, aided high and higher secondary schools.

During the meeting held at Sri Brahadambal Government Boys Higher Secondary School here, as many as 185 headmasters of government and aided high and higher secondary schools participated.

A senior official told The Hindu that headmasters had been instructed to remove thatched roofs, if any, from their school buildings before July 20 and replace them with asbestos.

They were directed to keep at least one fire extinguisher in their schools and five buckets filled with sand to douse flames in the event of a fire mishap.

The headmasters were asked to cover open wells, if any, in their respective schools with a mesh or close them if they were completely dry.

Besides, they were instructed to replace thatched roofs of noon meal centres with asbestos. They were told to cover septic tanks and ensure that there were no leakages in electrical extensions.

Also, a meeting was convened at the office of the District Elementary Education Officer here. The official said that 28 Assistant Education Officers including one nursery AEO and two Science AEOs attended the meeting.

The district has a total of 1,401 elementary and middle schools and 113 nursery schools.

The AEOs were instructed to convene a meeting at the respective union headquarters with headmasters of all primary, and middle schools on Monday. They were told to ensure that noon meal centres functioned under thatched roofs. Besides, the need to keep the drinking water sumps clean in the schools clean was stressed.

Schools have been advised to form sanitation clubs to ensure that there was no open defecation, the official said adding that the number of toilets in schools would be increased under the Sarva Shiksha Abiyan and Total Rural Sanitation Programme.

Directive issued

Meanwhile, the district administration has imposed a ban on running classes under thatched roof keeping in mind the safety of the students.

In a directive to all nursery, primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools in the district, the Collector, Jatindranath Swain, today asked the managements of schools to remove thatched roofs, if any, immediately and not to keep any inflammable materials in the school premises. They had been instructed not to run classes in dilapidated buildings.

They should ensure that there were no open electrical connections anywhere on the premises.

They should make additional exit points to enable students leave from the campus in case of an emergency.

They should ensure that anganwadi or noon meal kitchen rooms were functioning in separate buildings and see to it that there was no inflammable material near the kitchen.

The schools should have adequate number of fire extinguishers and buckets filled with sand and water at all times.

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