VASCO: A teacher at the Government school, Headland in Vasco has complained that some anti-social elements have regularly been teasing students by sitting near the school gate, as such, she has requested for police protection.
The Headland school is not the only one in such danger. The government school at Vaddem and Mata School at Baina face too the same situation. The request was made at a meeting convened by Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) Chief Officer Agnelo A Fernandes and MMC Chairperson Deepak Naik of the representatives of the schools operating under within jurisdiction of the municipality, on Wednesday morning.
The meeting was convened to discuss the ways for creating a secure space for children in schools. Though 25 schools were invited for the meeting, representative from only 14 schools attended the meeting held at MMC hall.
At the meeting, Teresa Andrade, a teacher from Government school at Headland, informed that after the school hours, the premise is being used for celebrating functions, dumping of garbage, drinking alcohol and for other anti-social activities by some locals.
“The scariest part is that after school hours we see some anti-social elements sitting near the school gate and teasing students,” she said and requested police patrolling at the place.
“I want police protection for my students and teachers in the school. Since the children in our school come from to low income groups, no one cares for their safety. After school hours, our school premise is used for celebrating some functions, drinking alcohol and for other anti-social activities by some locals,” she said.
“Even the midday meal supplied to us is not of good quality and all our complaints are yet to be addressed,” she complained.
Representatives from Government School at new Vaddem and Mata School at Baina also claimed that their students were not safe. Mata School said that antisocial elements have been using the foot over bridge near the school for drinking alcohol.
After giving a patient hearing to all the complaints, Fernandes suggested all the school representatives to submit their suggestions and complaint to MMC so that it can do the follow-up with authorities concerned.
Chairperson Deepak Naik assured them that council would formally ask the police to restart their patrolling near the schools and all the schools should also make efforts to install CCTV cameras on priority.
He said that if school makes any representations to the council, then, it would ask the corporate houses from Vasco to adopt some schools which are financially weak so that not only CCTV’s but other important amenities in the school can be made available under CSR activity.
