Meeting on child safety and security in schools

TURA: The District Administration of West Garo Hills, Tura held a meeting at  the DRDA Conference Hall in Tura on Wednesday to sensitize all schools on the Right To Education (RTE) Act, NCPCR guidelines on Child Safety and Security in schools, POCSO Act 2012 and other statutes.
West Garo Hills, deputy commissioner, Ram Singh, additional deputy commissioner, Zenithsky Sangma, superintendent of police, WGH, MGR Kumar, vice president, Meghalaya State Commission for Women, GTR Marak and officials from the District Child Protection Unit, Tura, were present during the meeting along with officials from the Education Department and heads of various institutions including Dadenggre Sub-Division.
While instructing all the heads of schools to follow the manual for safety and security of school students, the deputy commissioner highlighted the key issues of the manual and informed that corporal punishment includes physical punishment, mental harassment and discrimination in any form which are banned under the RTE Act 2009.
He stated that all teachers including helpers must be sensitised on various provisions of the RTE Act, NCPCR guidelines and provisions under POCSO Act.
He also mentioned about the need to form an anti-bullying committee and grievance committee on child sexual abuse in all schools.
Further, the deputy commissioner suggested that schools should follow the prescribed weight limit of school bags and to formulate guidelines to regulate the teaching of subjects and weight of bags.
Meanwhile, superintendent of police, MGR Kumar highlighted on the aspects of the various provisions of the POCSO Act and the sections of the IPC so as to ensure that they know these rules under which the offender can be penalised.
Vice president of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women, Gamchi T R Marak shared her experiences about various cases relating to children and women in the district and said that most of the time parents and teachers tend to neglect the emotional behaviour of the student which results in a negative impact in the growth of the child.