School's safety guidelines in a week, says CP

The Mumbai Police will soon release a list of safety guidelines for schools, announced Commissioner of Police Datta Padsalgikar in a meeting with stakeholders that included parents, school principals, management and transport association members.

"With respect to recent instances in which the safety of schools came under question, the police spoke about what they are doing to ensure the safety of students and also made suggestions. One of them was to appoint a school representative to take care of safety," said one of the stakeholders at the meeting.

Some of the suggestions made by schools included providing an interface in the police's Mitra app for schools, patrolling of schools in nearby areas, and assistance in background checks of employees.

Anil Garg, chairman, School Bus Owners Association, said, "The police department reiterated that school buses should follow all the norms with respect to safety. We also took up the issue of illegal vans which the police and the transport department has taken into consideration."

Padsalgikar said, "We are taking into account all the suggestions made by the stakeholders in the meeting and will come up with a set of guidelines in a week."