KOCHI: The Kerala state child rights commission has asked the local self-government bodies to check the safety of schools and then issue fitness certificates.
Before the schools reopen, the local bodies should ensure that all repairs have been completed and it is safe for children to come.
Local bodies and the education department should ensure that no asbestos sheets are used as a rooftop for kindergarten classes. The commission was hearing a petition filed by a student of a CBSE school at Ponnani in Malappuram. It asked the CBSE regional office to also ensure that the orders are followed by all schools affiliated to it.
Hearing the petition, the commission said that re-admission fees should not be levied from students who were late in filing the school fees this year. If such an amount has been collected, it should be refunded.
The petitioner said that special fees and PTA fees should not be collected by schools as they have been in online mode since March 2020. Some schools have been collecting fees in the name of online mode classes, the commission observed.
The student complained that her mother, who was the PTA president, was being harassed by the school as she had raised objections against these issues. The school compound wall had collapsed under heavy rain and it has not been repaired yet, the tahsildar submitted in his response to the notice issued by the panel.
The panel asked the CBSE regional officer to investigate the issue and ensure that the issues are being handled properly. Only prescribed NCERT textbooks should be used and not the ones issued by private publishers as students were being forced to buy books by private publishers at the rate of Rs 300 per textbook, by some CBSE schools.
The authorities concerned, including the school management, local bodies, education department and CBSE have been asked to file an action taken report within a month.
