Lok Sabha Question No. 86 (STARRED), answered on 2018-12-17
Subject: Unsafe School Buildings
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: BHEEMRAO BASWANTHRAO PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 86 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## Unsafe School Buildings

## *86. SHRI BHEEMRAO B. PATIL:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has done any study to identify schools running from unsafe buildings in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the steps taken/being taken by the Government both in terms of policy as well as administratively to ensure safety of school going children in this respect?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

- (a) to (c) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION  NO.  86  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  17 TH   DECEMBER  2018  ASKED  BY  SHRI BHEEMRAO B. PATIL REGARDING UNSAFE SCHOOL BUILDINGS

(a) and (b) The Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) collects data on various indicators of schools education. As per UDISE 2016-17 (Provisional), 0.67% schools are having building in  dilapidated  condition  and  7.73%  of  classrooms  in  schools  across  the  country  require  major  repairs. State/UT-wise  percentage  of  schools  having  building  in  dilapidated  condition  and  percentage  of classrooms requiring major repairs are at Annexure.

(c) Section 19 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides the norms and standards for a school as specified in the Schedule to the Act. The RTE norms inter alia provide  for  a  physically  sound,  all-weather  building,  and  provision  for  arrangements  for  securing  the school  building  by  boundary  wall  or  fencing.  The  States  and  UTs,  defined  as  the  'appropriate Governments'  under  the  Act,  are  implementing  the  provisions  of  the  RTE  Act,  2009  through  their respective State RTE Rules.

The  Ministry  of  Human  Resource  Development has  issued  guidelines  on  safety  and  security  of children  vide  letter  on  9 th October,  2014  to  all  State  and  UT  Governments  suggesting  preventive institutional mechanisms and procedures that should be put in place in the schooling system along with the relief and redressal strategies in case of such incidents.  Para 4.1.2 of the guidelines inter alia states that the school building should be physically sound, all-weather structures, resistant to earthquakes, fire, safe from floods and other calamities as the children are more vulnerable to be harmed and less likely to be able to react effectively in case calamity strikes. The guidelines also state that building should be kept free from inflammable and toxic materials. If storage of some inflammable material (e.g. fuel for cooking midday meal) is inevitable, they should be stored safely.  The school should have adequate emergency exits. There should be adequate supply of water and sand for fire-fighting purposes.  The guidelines lay down carrying out   building safety audit for every school, reducing structural vulnerability of existing school buildings, preparation of Disaster Preparedness and Response Plans, preparation of a standard Checklist to assess the existing structural risks in the school buildings and retrofitting to strengthen the schools found vulnerable.

The  Department  of  School  Education  &  Literacy  has  again  advised  all  States  and  UTs  on  11 th September,  2017  to  sensitize  the  entire  administrative  and  monitoring  machinery  towards  effective implementation  of  the  guidelines  on  safety  and  security  of  school  children;  and  institutionalizing  and ensuring a safe, secure and vibrant environment in schools for children.

The  Department  has  also  written  to  all  States  and  UTs  vide  letter  dated  1st  September,  2017 regarding the National Disaster Management Guidelines on School Safety Policy.  It was emphasized that the Guidelines on School Safety Policy 2016 prepared by the National Disaster Management Authority

(NDMA) are statutory in nature and are required to be complied  without any deviation.   The NDMA guidelines provide for conducting quarterly safety audits by the School Management Committee (SMC) in schools  including  fire  safety  and  food  safety.  The  guidelines  are  in  public  domain  and  hosted  on www.mhrd.gov.in.

The Manual on Safety and Security of Children in Schools developed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has also identified authorities at different levels such as School Management Committee, Parent Teacher Association, School Management, authorities at Block, District, State and National levels to monitor the implementation of the manual.   The details are in public domain and hosted on www.ncpcr.gov.in

As per CBSE Affiliation Bye-laws, before grant of Affiliation, a school is required to submit a certificate from the competent authority to the effect that the school building is safe.

The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched an Integrated Scheme for School Education  -  Samagra  Shiksha,  which  subsumes  the  erstwhile  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  of  Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE) in 2018-19. Samagra Shiksha supports States and UTs for strengthening of existing government schools, and for creation and augmentation of infrastructure facilities in government schools.  The scheme provides an annual recurring school composite grant to all Government Schools for  incurring  recurring  costs,  inter alia, for annual maintenance and repair of existing school building, toilets and other facilities to upkeep the  infrastructure  in  good  condition. The  amount  of  grant  varies  from  Rs.  25,000  to  Rs.  1,00,000  per annum depending upon the number of students in the school. Each  school  is  required  to spend  at  least 10%  of  the  composite  school  grant  on activities  related  to Swachhata  Action Plan.

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) AND (b) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION  NO.  86  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  17 TH   DECEMBER  2018  ASKED  BY  SHRI BHEEMRAO B. PATIL REGARDING UNSAFE SCHOOL BUILDINGS

Statement  showing  State/UT-wise  percentage  of  schools  having  building  in  dilapidated  condition  and percentage of classrooms requiring major repairs

Source: UDISE, 2016-17(Provisional)

|   S. No. | State/UT                 |   Percentage of schools with Building in Dilapidated Condition |   Percentage of classrooms requiring major repairs |
|----------|--------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Andaman &Nicobar Islands |                                                           0.24 |                                              10.29 |
|        2 | Andhra Pradesh           |                                                           0.24 |                                               6.86 |
|        3 | Arunachal Pradesh        |                                                           0.39 |                                              14.37 |
|        4 | Assam                    |                                                           4.13 |                                              30.32 |
|        5 | Bihar                    |                                                           0.6  |                                              10.47 |
|        6 | Chandigarh               |                                                           0    |                                               0.74 |
|        7 | Chhattisgarh             |                                                           1.71 |                                               9.8  |
|        8 | Dadra &Nagar Haveli      |                                                           0    |                                               1.03 |
|        9 | Daman &Diu               |                                                           0    |                                               2.21 |
|       10 | Delhi                    |                                                           0    |                                               3.73 |
|       11 | Goa                      |                                                           0    |                                               3.15 |
|       12 | Gujarat                  |                                                           0.18 |                                               7.41 |
|       13 | Haryana                  |                                                           0.33 |                                               4.49 |
|       14 | Himachal Pradesh         |                                                           0.12 |                                               8.52 |
|       15 | Jammu and Kashmir        |                                                           0.12 |                                               6.99 |
|       16 | Jharkhand                |                                                           0.57 |                                               6.13 |
|       17 | Karnataka                |                                                           0.18 |                                               9.03 |
|       18 | Kerala                   |                                                           0.3  |                                               4.2  |
|       19 | Lakshadweep              |                                                           0    |                                               3.6  |
|       20 | Madhya Pradesh           |                                                           0.88 |                                               5.83 |
|       21 | Maharashtra              |                                                           1.06 |                                               5.43 |
|       22 | Manipur                  |                                                           0.32 |                                              17.74 |
|       23 | Meghalaya                |                                                           1.89 |                                              18.57 |
|       24 | Mizoram                  |                                                           3.93 |                                              17.82 |
|       25 | Nagaland                 |                                                           2.54 |                                               8.3  |
|       26 | Odisha                   |                                                           0.18 |                                              15.19 |
|       27 | Puducherry               |                                                           0    |                                               1.22 |
|       28 | Punjab                   |                                                           0.12 |                                               2.99 |
|       29 | Rajasthan                |                                                           0.11 |                                               5.41 |
|       30 | Sikkim                   |                                                           0.15 |                                              12.02 |
|       31 | Tamil Nadu               |                                                           0.48 |                                               4.25 |
|       32 | Telangana                |                                                           0.17 |                                               6.44 |
|       33 | Tripura                  |                                                           0.27 |                                              15.85 |
|       34 | Uttar Pradesh            |                                                           0.16 |                                               3.94 |
|       35 | Uttarakhand              |                                                           3.46 |                                              12.72 |
|       36 | West Bengal              |                                                           0.09 |                                              15.31 |