Supreme Court Directs States to Implement School Safety Guidelines

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all states and union territories to implement the Centre’s guidelines on the safety and security of children in schools. The court also tasked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) with coordinating and monitoring the implementation of these measures across the country.

A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh noted that the Centre had already notified these guidelines and instructed the union government to send copies to the chief secretaries or equivalent officers of each state and union territory. The court further emphasized the importance of NCPCR’s role in overseeing the enforcement of these guidelines and requested that status reports be sought from the respective states and union territories.

This directive comes in the wake of several recent cases of sexual assault on children within educational institutions, including a high-profile incident in Badlapur, Maharashtra, where a school staff member allegedly raped two schoolgirls. Following such incidents, an NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, filed a petition calling for the immediate implementation of the Centre’s guidelines in educational institutes across the country.

Senior advocate HS Phoolka, representing the NGO, brought to the court’s attention that only five states had implemented the safety guidelines to date. Phoolka stressed that the safety of children was being compromised, as they were often subjected to sexual abuse and assault due to the failure of state and union territory governments to notify these critical regulations.

“These guidelines have been developed to fix the accountability of school management in ensuring the safety and security of children studying in government, government-aided, and private schools,” the NGO stated in its plea.

The court’s petition, which dates back to May 6, 2019, began after several reports of safety violations in schools surfaced. The Bachpan Bachao Andolan argued that proper implementation of the guidelines would prevent such tragic incidents from occurring in the future. The NGO pointed specifically to the Badlapur case as an alarming example of the lack of accountability by school management.

The petitioners sought to have the Centre’s guidelines titled, “Fixing the Accountability of School Management towards the Safety and Security of Children in School Guidelines,” notified and implemented immediately. These guidelines were originally prepared by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) in consultation with the NCPCR on August 20, 2018.

As the case progressed, the Ministry of Education’s Department of School Education and Literacy developed an updated set of guidelines in 2021, titled “Guidelines on School Safety and Security 2021,” in response to directions passed by the Supreme Court. These guidelines explicitly require states and union territories to notify them as a step towards ensuring better protection for students.

However, despite these efforts, Bachpan Bachao Andolan pointed out that many state and union territory governments have still not fulfilled their responsibility. The NGO recently amended its petition in December 2022 to seek immediate directions for mandatory notification of these safety guidelines by all states and union territories.

“It is respectfully submitted that numerous recent incidents have highlighted the failure of school management to protect and secure the lives of children, the most vulnerable members of society,” the application stated, reiterating the urgent need for these guidelines to be implemented.