Tamil Nadu   

Verification of safety systems in schools in progress

CHENNAI: The government has taken up verification of safety systems in all schools in Madurai and Karur, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu told the Assembly on Monday.

Replying to a supplementary question from T. Velthurai (Congress), Mr. Thennarasu said the High Court wanted the government to undertake physical verification of all schools in the State to make sure that they confirmed to the safety guidelines outlined by the Sampath Commission.

The directive to the State government was resultant of a petition, he said and added that the government submitted that since the number of schools was very large, two districts could be taken up initially.

The court agreed to this and the work would be completed shortly.

Following the July 16, 2004 fire at Sri Krishna School, Kumbakonam, the AIADMK government, on July 20, 2004, ordered a commission of enquiry headed by K. Sampath, retired judge of the Madras High Court. His terms of reference included suggesting ways and means to ensure that such fires did not take place in schools in future. He submitted a two-volume report on July 13, 2005, to the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. The report was tabled in the Assembly after the DMK government came to power.

In another supplementary, S.Ve. Shekar (AIADMK) complained that some schools, especially in his Mylapore constituency, sent off children claiming they had failed in kindergarten examinations. This was unacceptable, especially since the government policy was not to fail students in primary school classes.

Mr. Thennarasu replied that the member was, perhaps, referring to private CBSE schools. The government could not do much in the case of such schools. But, if there were such instances in matriculation schools, it would take action against the institutions.

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