Supreme Court to hear on September 24 plea seeking implementation of Centre's guidelines on safety, security of children in schools

Supreme Court to hear NGO plea on child safety guidelines after recent sexual assault incidents in schools.

In the wake of recent sexual assault incidents of children in some schools, including Badlapur in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (August 28, 2024) agreed to hear on September 24 a plea filed by an NGO seeking implementation of the Centre’s guidelines on safety and security of children in educational institutes across the country.

Appearing for the non-governmental organization (NGO), ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’, senior advocate HS Phoolka apprised the top court that only five States have implemented the Centre’s guidelines for the safety of children and sought an early hearing on the petition.

The bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and NK Singh listed the matter for hearing on September 24.

Notably, the pending petition dates back to May 6, 2019, when the top court issued notices to concerned respondents.

The Bachpan Bachao Andolan said the safety of the children is being compromised and they are being subjected to “sexual abuse and assault” due to the failure of the state/UT governments to notify the guidelines framed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) in consultation with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

“These guidelines have been developed for fixing the accountability of the School Management in the matter of Safety and Security of Children studying in Government, Government-aided and Private Schools,” the NGO said.

The plea further said that the recent tragic incident in Badalpur, Maharashtra, where two schoolgirls were allegedly raped by a staff member is an eye-opener that demonstrates that the school management has miserably failed to protect and secure the lives of children. Had these guidelines been notified by the state/UT governments various untoward incidents could have been averted, the plea said.