School safety assessment in Bengaluru and Kolar districts, India

Abstract

Ensuring optimum safety in schools to prevent injuries and promote safety of children is a mandate by the Constitution of India. However, there is limited evidence regarding safety and injury prevention in schools. This safety appraisal was conducted on a sample of 131 schools, selected by stratified random sampling in Bengaluru and Kolar districts in India. Trained investigators collected data using smart phone-assisted interview, observational methods and record review between 1 January and 31 March 2019. Safety was assessed across the domains of macro areas (policy, guidelines, committee, budget, coordination and training), physical infrastructure, road and transport safety, fire safety and first-aid services. Safety level (%) at each school was computed based on scores obtained in each domain. Overall safety level was at 50.8% of the assessment criteria and was relatively better in private schools (54%). Most schools scored less than 30% in domains of transport safety, fire safety and macro areas. Results highlight the need for implementing and augmenting safety measures in schools.

Keywords:

• Child safety
• child injury
• school safety
• policy
• India

Sources of support

This work was supported by the Underwriters Laboratories under Grant [Purchase Order 1102011822]

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Acknowledgements

We sincerely acknowledge the cooperation and support of the staff of the Department of Education, Government of Karnataka and data collectors in the project.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.