I had some important work in the office of the St. Francis Xavier High School at Siolim, Bardez. I had reached the school gate during recess hour. As I was about to push the gate to enter the premises, the security guard on duty stopped me and told to wait till the recess hour over.
While waiting outside the gate, my curiosity experienced that the school has tight security and the safety of the students is being strictly taken care of. The school has a fence with three (3) gates which are closed. Outside the gates the vendors were seen selling different types of eatables and the students were buying it from inside the gate (see in the picture) but not a single student was seen outside the fenced gate.
After the recess, the security guard checked my identity, the purpose of visit and signature on the register book and allowed me to go to the office.
The ground reality exists in various schools in the State following the recent breach of security and sexual assault in Vasco School. Following the assault the Director of Education (DOE) issued a circular asking the schools to provide security safety measures to be followed by the schools in the State. To make matters worse, receiving the circular some schools across the state adhered to it. This resulted in some students shedding crocodile tears to meet their parents.
As a result some of the school authorities allowed their students to leave the school premises during recess hours. But it is observed that they loiter on the road, sometimes even 200 metres away from the school premises, visit nearby stores and even make a quick visit home. However, some schools which are concerned about the safety of their students are permanently following the rules like the Siolim school.
Cars of heavily tinted glasses and those of devious minds are moving on the roads close to schools during school recess hours. To avoid the repetition of the shocking incident like the Vasco School, I request the Education Minister (EM) and the Director of Education (DOE) to review the circular to schools to ask the school management to provide students with a strict security.
