With the help of around two lakh school students from 26,071 schools across India, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) released a report on "safe and secure school environment" on Thursday.
It took almost two years for the students to inspect and submit the reports from 12 different states.
The idea behind including children was to create awareness among them about the importance of safety and security in schools and the essentials of a safe school.
The survey was designed in a way to include all the relevant parameters pertaining to the safety of children and engaging children in the collection of data.
Priyank Kanoongo, Chairperson, NCPCR told , "The Commission has made this report with the participation of children, I thank all the children and teachers who made this report. I hope that this report will be helpful in ensuring school safety of the children. It is dedicated to all those children who are fulfilling their national duty of getting education facing every challenge."
The objective of the research was to first access the school's infrastructure as per the manual and to create awareness regarding the importance of the manual which in the long run would help the schools in following the guidelines as it is one of the basic necessities to ensure a safe and secure environment for children.
The survey was conducted on classroom safety, laboratory safety, kitchen, drinking water, toilet facility, earth management, school boundary, cyber safety, school premise and location among others.
NCPCR in the report stated that in the survey conducted by the children, it has been found that drinking water is adequately available in 90 per cent of the schools but only 45 per cent schools have regular water quality inspection from authorities.
In the Mid Day meal (MDM) scheme survey by students shows that only 56 per cent (of those 81.51 covering MDM scheme) is providing food as per the menu. It also reveals that only 57 per cent of children are satisfied with the quality of food.
It has also been observed that 22 per cent of schools are operating from old or dilapidated buildings, whereas 31percent schools showed cracks in the building structure.
It took around two years to collect the data. NCPCR had finalised the report by March.
( With inputs from ANI )