Bengaluru: Is there such a thing as a residential pre-university college? According the the DPUE – the Department of Pre University Education, such a phenomenon does not exist – for its not in the rule book.
But the male hostel attendant who killed a girl at the hostel premises and injured another belonged to just one such ‘residential pre-university college’ No guidelines means very little regulation, and naturally the safety and security of hostelites is a grave and immediate concern.
At Pragathi, the School and PU College here where 17-year-old Gauthami was shot dead last week, a number of standard procedures such as background verification of its staff, restriction of access to the girls hostel, etc, were not followed
Sushama Godbole, director, DPUE, acknowledges that the “very concept of residential PU colleges does not exist” in the rule books of the department.
She made it clear that her department only gave permission to open PU colleges, and as such permission was not possible for ‘residential PU colleges’. Now, as a first step to regulate such institutions, the department will soon make a list of residential colleges, she added.
The School wing, the Karnataka Secondary School Education Board (KSSEB) also does not have any rules to govern residential schools, only regular day schools. Mohammed Mohsin, Commissioner for Public Instruction, acknowledged that there are no rules governing residential schools under the KSSEB that he was aware of. He, however, said that the new child guidelines being framed with the help of various departments would cover the safety of all children aged up to 18 years in all kinds of settings, schools, hostels, orphanages etc.
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) is different. It has not only defined residential schools in its ‘rules of affiliation’, but also laid down a few guidelines for them, which is an exception to the rule because the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), also does not have any such rules or guidelines for residential schools, even in its rules of affiliation.
“I do not think CBSE has any rules with regards to running residential schools. It is the responsibility of individual schools which have to put in place appropriate safety measures,” said D T S Rao, Regional Officer, South India, CBSE.
