As the state will commemorate nearly one year since the Delhi and the Vasco rape case which happened, not much has changed in schools in Mapusa. Those who were already serious have got better, while those schools which had minimal infrastructure for the safety of students continue to be vulnerable.
Between then and now St Britto’s High School Mapusa has installed CCTV cameras in all its classrooms and other areas on the school premises. This was done without funding from the government in a school that was already walled from all sides and already had security guards posted at the main gate and does not ordinarily allow outsiders to enter the school’s premises.
The other ‘elite’ schools of Mapusa including St Mary’s Convent High School as well as that of St Francis Xavier High School in Peddem already well defined boundaries in place with walls, in some cases unscalable, surrounding them.
Other schools have begun the construction of walls around their premises. While schools like Janata High School Mapusa, Mapusa High School and the Dnyanprasarak High School are all located within buildings and along busy streets with not much estate around them. Owing to limited points of entry keeping a watch has never been difficult.
However speaking to Herald, parents of children worry more about their safety to and from school rather than when they are within school.
“Students start walking to school from as early as 7:15 in the morning. At this time the streets are often empty and potential criminal may take advantage of this,” Matthew Soares a parent of a young girl said.
He referred to an incident in the past where a “flasher” began to prey on school students walking to school in Mapusa, taking advantage of the fact that there were few other people on the street at that time and few students, nearly a decade ago.
Observers say that is in the rural villages of other parts of Bardez that really need to be looked into.
“One needs to be careful in schools in areas like Calangute, Candolim and the beach belt that are frequented by tourists. You never know what kind of tourists are roaming around here. It’s not the case of just sexual crimes against children, they could be lured into drug usage, drug peddling. In and around a school is the best place to find them,” a teacher at a Mapusa school said.
“It is in these places that school authorities as well as the government needs to keep a check,” she adds.
Another cause of concern is Goa’s villages which are getting urbanized by the day. “The Mahatma Jyotirao Phule High School and the St Rita’s High School, both in Colvale are in bad shape. Not only are they poor on infrastructure, but because Colvale is not the village it once used to be the managements cannot take security for granted,” a villager who did not wish to be named said.
The question that stares us in the face is: Have we learnt our lesson?
