A survey is being carried out on safe and secure schools by The National Commission for Protection Child Rights (NCPCR). The survey will be conducted in eighty thousand schools which comprises of five percent of the total number of schools in India. Data will be directly collected from the students.

A Step Forward

The NCPCR has already begun its survey in Gujarat and it is being conducted by distributing questionnaires to the students who will be filling in the questionnaires themselves. The questionnaires have been prepared by taking various parameters into consideration. This includes safety against abuse, social and emotional safety, quality of mid-day meals, drinking water facilities, toilets, school transportation and infrastructure facilities provided by the schools such as play grounds, classrooms and the like.

The survey is being conducted as a pre-requisite to Sustainable Development Goal Four which ensures quality education for everyone. The NCPCR believes that the rate of children dropping out of schools will reduce immensely by addressing these issues.

This programme will be monitored by teachers-in-training from various universities and colleges as a part of their project work and they will be awarded an NCPCR certificate for their contribution. This will also be done to ensure that all data collected from the students is authentic.

The NCPCR is empowered by section 13 of Commissions for Protection of Child Rights, 2005, to review laws for the protection of Child Rights. The Right to Education Act, 2009, also ensures that safeguards under the act are reviewed by the Children’s Rights Body and complaints regarding a child’s rights to free and compulsory education are looked into.

This programme will ensure a child’s safety and better facilities which will encourage parents to send their children to schools. It will also invoke an interest in children to attend schools.