BANGALORE: The State Government plans to provide training in fire fighting to at least one teacher in each school and introduce a lesson on fire fighting in the syllabus. A physical education teacher in each school will be trained in fire fighting measures. There is also a proposal to treat negligence towards fire safety by school managements as a cognisable offence under the Karnataka Fire Force Act.

The eighth standard syllabus will be revised to include a lesson on extinguishing fires. Besides, cooks who prepare midday meals in schools have been given manuals on the usage of LPG cylinders and emergency measures to be taken in case of a gas leak. These and many other measures have been listed in an affidavit that the State Government has been asked to file before the Supreme Court following a public interest litigation (PIL) petition by Avinash Mehrotra on safety measures initiated by State Governments in schools and other educational institutions in the light of the Kumbakonam fire tragedy in which several schoolchildren perished in a fire. The affidavit follows a direction by the Supreme Court to all States to place before it the measures initiated for the safety of schoolchildren.

Responsibility fixed

The State's affidavit says that the responsibility of tackling fires in schools has been assigned to all educational officers: deputy directors of public instruction, block development officers, assistant directors of public instruction, municipal officials, school development management committees and gram panchayat officials.

There is also a proposal to constitute committees at the district level comprising the deputy commissioner, the chief executive officer of the zilla panchayat, engineers of the Public Works Department and the deputy director of public instruction as members. This committee will supervise fire safety measures.

To minimise fire mishaps, schools have been asked to ensure that no inflammable materials are kept near the place of cooking and that food is not cooked in classrooms.

Fiat to officials

State Government officials have been asked to visit all schools, hostels and anganwadi centres to ensure compliance.

Schools are now expected to upgrade old buildings and comply with fire safety regulations under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and midday meal scheme.

Other measures

The affidavit says the Government has drawn up several others measures under the Education Act to ensure that schools and educational institutions have basic infrastructure and safety facilities. It says the Act deals with a variety of issues such as setback needed for school buildings, playgrounds, the width of staircases and capacity of classrooms.

There are 53,461 primary schools in the State with a total student intake of 58,13,661, according to the affidavit.

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