NIOS D.EL.ED. Assignment Course-501 with Complete Solution In English

Note: Answer the following questions in about 500 words.

Q1. What type of changes do you want in yourself as a teacher to Cater to the need of the changing society and learners? Explain with at least two examples.

Ans.  As the world is becoming more advanced and new things are coming up so students should be kept updated about the innovations and the changing trends in the world. As a teacher, the learning process should not stop and teachers like students should also keep learning new things so that they can teach their students something new every day. This tendency of learning new things will help a lot in the development of teachers.

Studies show that teachers, who have a healthy and friendly relationship with their students, are more successful in their academic fields. So, the most important thing that I will adopt is a friendly and caring attitude toward my students. It helps to know students especially when the students come from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Another important thing is to  ask students for their feedback. It gives them the impression that you consider their opinions and experiences and value them. It also creates a culture wherein students feel free to ask questions and share their ideas which also helps them to grow personally, academically, and socially.

A teacher holds a very respectful position in society. It’s a proud feeling to be respected by students. A good teacher is respected everywhere in society. Unlike all other jobs, even teaching methods have changed now. Even the attitude of children has changed in the past decade. Thus, as a teacher, I would like to bring a few changes to myself. These changes are as under:

• I would like to develop in me the unique ability to read my students’ minds so that I can preempt something untoward; provide them learning environment, absorb activities, and counsel them not only to overcome their academic challenges, but also the general challenges of life.

• I would like to upgrade my subject knowledge regularly and blend that knowledge with technology to make my learning effective, interesting, and result-oriented.

• Nowadays technology can be used to teach students. These days we can teach through a projector to explain better. We can connect with parents online and inform them about homework and other updates. So, I would also like to teach my students with these technologies.

• As a teacher, it’s very important to have a command over students. These days children are becoming more stubborn. We need to become more dominating. Therefore, I’ll become a little more dominant in my classroom.

Above all, as a teacher, I would like to teach students self-confidence which is the most needed thing in today’s world and which is often ignored at school. Also, I would like to help children know how to talk to people and in what way they communicate to people so that they leave a lasting impact on the other person. They should be given motivation classes so that they study properly and think of studying as something they need and should take interest in studying rather than just studying it for the sake of duty.

Or

How do you feel that role of the ancient gurus has changed in present society?

Which qualities of ancient Guru you would like to adopt as a teacher? Why?

Ans. In Bhartiya Darshan ‘Guru’ has a significant place. It consists of two words, Gu and ru. The word ‘Gu’ indicated darkness and ‘ru’ means controller. It means to avoid darkness or ignorance. In Vedas, the term acharya is used for a guru. Guru is considered the greatest treasure of knowledge.

Guru was playing many roles in those days for the students like a parent, teacher, scholar, missionary, friend-philosopher, and a guide. He was to pay personal attention to the needs of the students. It was the responsibility of the Guru to see that the student develops, and makes progress to the satisfaction of the Guru as well as to his satisfaction. At that time the relationship between teachers used to be very intimate and they were like father and son.

The oral interaction method was prevalent in those days. Lectures, discourses, debates and discussions, recitation, and recapitulation were part of routine daily student life. The assessment was a continuous, comprehensive assessment internally conducted by Guru. There were no terminal examinations, no degree certificates, but announcing by the Guru in the convocation that the student has graduated after completion of the stipulated studies. Guru would present the qualified student to a gathering of learned people who may ask questions, or the student would be asked to contest in debate and prove himself. Then for his mastery of the subject, the student would be known and accepted as a scholarly person.

Learners’ autonomy was respected. They were free to choose the Guru and the subject of study. At the same time, to accept the student (Shishya) or not, was a prerogative of the Guru, the teacher.

In the new world, there are numerous roles the teacher is expected to perform. The typical roles may include:

▪ Developer and nurturer of e-culture,

▪ Networker and change agent,

▪ Learning practitioner and facilitator.

▪ Learning resource developer

▪ Techno-pedagogue

▪ Evaluator

▪ Action researcher

▪ Behaviour scientist

▪ Curriculum designer and transact or

▪ Instructional system designer

The gurus were unselfish and lived for the good of the world. But this is difficult to follow these days. Gurus were respected very well. They taught students in the middle of nature. There were practicals too. Gurus were appreciated by the kings and were sponsored by them. Gurus had powers to command their students and disciples. They could judge the situations well and be able to give good advice to kings or people. Therefore, we need some of these qualities in today’s teachers.

Q2. Survey some schools in your locality and enlist the major issues of elementary education. Suggest ways to resolve these issues.

Ans. The survey of some schools shows that the major issues of elementary education are:-

• The classrooms do not have sufficient furniture. Three or four students have to share the same bench. Some of them even sit on the floor.

• There is no proper blackboard. Teaching small kids in class from 1^st to 3^rd gets complicated because they need a lot of board work.

• Teachers are not focusing on the all-round development of students.

• Teachers are not trained suitably.

• The students are from poorer sections of society so the fees and indirect school-related costs like uniforms, books and study materials, and transport are very high for them.

• A good pay leads to a better education but the teachers in schools are not getting proper pay due to which they are not able to teach students properly.

Some steps which can be taken to resolve these issues are:-

• The government should allocate more money for education so that they can equip the classroom with proper resources. The proper inquiry should also be placed that can ensure that the money of the government are been used in right place.

• Teacher training programs should be given importance.

• Teachers should be given incentives and better salaries so that they can teach properly with their full effort.

•  Fees and other school-related costs should be reduced. If possible free education should be imparted.

• Teachers should teach something out of the book like general knowledge, interesting facts, and all those things that can help a student to grow.

 Or

Visit some schools in your locality and prepare a report in the context of adaptation of salient features of NCF, 2005.

Ans. I visited XYZ school in my locality. It is a state board syllabus school. The most attractive thing I noticed about the school is they have inclusive learning. They have inculcated in their curriculum a learner-centric model.

They encourage the children to participate in various club activities like chess, carom, gardening, classical dance, silambam, and Carnatic music. They have NSS in their school and they do lots of social service through the same.

They have activities such as a worksheet, which makes the children brainstorm and write. They have worksheets for all the subjects. They have a big playground which has a basketball court and a volleyball court. They also have a separate place for yoga and meditation. All these have a separate timetable.

Their first language is the regional language, that is, Tamil. Their medium of instruction is English and Hindi is taught as a third language. Their classroom is well-equipped with a smart board. This enables the teacher to make her teaching interesting and the teacher can reach out to all the three types of learners, “Auditory, Visual and Kinesthetic learners”. They have well-ventilated rooms and the teacher-student ratio is for every thirty children-one teacher.

The children are made to cherish their learning through practical training. Various competitions are conducted for the same purpose. Extended learning happens when they are taken on a field trip. Taking the children on a field trip is done every term based on the lesson which requires such learning.

To prepare the children for the competitive exams, they have Math Lab and STEM lab, and to give a holistic development for a child they have the games on the computers which enhance a child’s concentration, observing skills, and quick thinking skills. As far as exams are concerned, till 5th standard, the child gets only grades. Exams are conducted in a leisurely manner, sometimes it is conducted on one on one basis. From VI upwards it is marked. This is to motivate the children to prepare for the Board Exam.

Children are happy to come to school because they carry fewer books as most of the books are collected and kept in the class. Each child has a cubicle to keep his/her books. The teachers are friendly and firm. If a child does not complete the homework consecutively for three days, parents are intimated and the root cause is found.

If a child is found copying, the child is sent home to introspect for two days and then return. This way, the child gets to understand the mistake done by her/him.

I was very happy to study at this school because they have almost adhered to all the rules laid in NCF, 2005. ‘J.P Naik has described an exclusive triangle for Indian Education and that is, equality, quality, and quantity. This school has its school motto of “empowering knowledge by invoking the creativity in the young minds”.

NIOS DLED Assignment Course-501 Full Answer in English

Q1. Enlist the various reasons for exclusion. What strategies you will adopt to set up an inclusive school and classroom?

Ans. The minority is constantly under the threat of assimilation. When under the compulsions of the economy the family structure is loosened, the social organization faces disintegration, the handicrafts and other finer cultural traits of distinctiveness face extinction, and language remains a major identity marker if not the only one, and acts as the only window to the cultural past of a people. The demand for the recognition of minority languages and their use in education, administration, and mass communication draws strength from this situation.

Education is generally directed towards the needs of the students coming from homes having a majority status in society. As a result, students belonging to minority communities often feel excluded in the school environment. There are the following reasons for their exclusion:

• The preconceived notions of the students might be different from those of the majority due to differences in cultural background.

• Students might find the content irrelevant as they are.

• The language used in the textbooks and classroom transactions could be different from the mother tongue of the students.

• The experiences referred to in the textbooks and a classroom, discourse might be unfamiliar to the students.

To facilitate the development of an inclusive society in which every member has an opportunity to achieve his/her potential to the fullest extent is the real purpose of building an inclusive school. To achieve this objective, diversity among the learner population mutha st be given due importance, and provision is made to achieve everyone’s rights. Access for all is the central concept in inclusive schools. It involves the psychological and physical environment of the school including curriculum transactions. All these aspects of the school should be conducive to learners with different abilities and social backgrounds. In brief, the school must have an inclusive learning environment that fosters the personal, academic, and professional development of all the students.

The attitude of a teacher is the essential aspect of an inclusive classroom. A teacher who believes that intelligence is inherited and nothing much can be done to improve it will hardly encourage the development of all the students. On the other hand, a teacher who is optimistic about the potential of individuals and who maintains that intelligence can manifest in different forms would provide an inclusive environment in the classroom to foster individual talent. The teacher must realize that diversity in the learners is inevitable and everyone would have different requirements. Taking these diversities into account a teacher has to create both psychological and physical environments in the classroom. Every child has a chance to progress, in such a conducive environment.

Every year, the SSA framework provides `1200 every disabled child. While planning for the utilization of this money, it should be borne in mind that the amount available is not only for the use of a particular child with a special need but also has to be utilized for planning Inclusive Education activities at the school/habitat/village levels. For implementing the programming of Inclusive Education, the SSA State Mission Societies are allocated funds depending on the total number of disabled children identified in the district. While some disabled children may only need the help of a special education teacher, others may require simple equipment like assertive devices like hearing aid, etc. However, this does not mean that this amount has to be spent annually; it can be accumulated for a year or two and utilized in a sizable facility.

This amount could be used in other activities like assessment camps, development of training material, community awareness campaigns, 45-day Rehabilitation Council of India recognized teacher training, requesting specific services from NGOs, workshops, and meetings. An attempt should be made to provide aids and appliances to identify CWSN through convergence. If this is not possible, then SSA funds could be used for this purpose. Only in exceptional circumstances, referral to residential special schools should be made. As far as possible CWSNs should be allowed to stay with their family. Interventions for the education of children with disabilities have to be planned by each district keeping in view available resources. In normal schools, overriding emphasis should be on inclusive education and in special schools, not isolating them.

Or

Suggest ways to access and retention of the child in school.

Ans. Following are the ways to access and retention of the child in school:

1. Improvement in the quality and relevance of schooling – This can help to increase the enrolment of children in the schools. When people perceive that schools provide quality education and offer an opportunity to learn relevant skills they will send their children to schools.
2. Make the school environment child friendly – Another way to increase access and retention is to make the teaching and learning environment safe and secure. It should be conducive to the health of the students. There should be no violence or aggression. Teaching and learning should be interesting. This will also develop an interest in children’s study.
3. Increase the amount of expenditure on education – The government can give grants to schools and scholarships to the students. It can spend money on teacher training programs. Government should organize some scholarship competitions for students. This will allow rising to the skills of the students. If there will be scholarship then the students will participate with their full effort.
4. Reduction of school-related costs – Direct costs of schooling like fees, uniforms, learning materials, and transportation and indirect costs act as a barrier to access and retention of children in schools. If school-related costs are reduced more children can afford to go to school.
5. The government can take steps to encourage education – It can provide different incentives for setting up schools. It can encourage the people to send their children to school by giving various concessions and facilities to them.
6. Parental and community involvement in schools – Parents and teachers should work together to build the personality of the child. There should be parent-teacher meetings. Parents and other members of the community should be invited to sports and other cultural functions. This will encourage the students to continue their education.
7. Teachers should interestingly teach students, this will increase interest in studying and the classes will not be boring.
8. Alternative provision or complementary education – Non-formal education can be provided by community-organized schools or NGOs. Such initiatives provide high levels of access and produce significant learning outcomes. This does not require excessive expenditure.

Location of schools closer to the residences of children – If the schools are located nearby it will be easier for parents to send their children to school. It will help to minimize the time and expenses involved in attending school. So more children will join schools and continue their studies.

Q2. You as a teacher, critically analyze the implementation issues of the Right to Education Act, 2009, faced by your school. Suggest ways for better implementation of the Act?

Ans. When it comes to the implementation of the RTE Act, the situation is worse in the state of Uttar Pradesh. I work in a government school at UP. There are a lot of statistics that indicate that Uttar Pradesh is way behind in improving its education system and in implementing the RTE Act in improving its education system and in implementing the RTE Act in its letter and spirit. According to a report titled “Education for All-Towards Quality with Equity” (2014) prepared by National University for Educational Planning and Administration (NEUPA), there were 8.15 million children out of school in 2009. Uttar Pradesh accounted 3 4% of these 8.15 million out-of-school children, i.e. 2.78 million children. Currently, the figure for “out of school” children in the entire country is counted up to 3.45 crore.

By S. 12 (1) (c), the RTE Act imposes a legal obligation on the private unaided schools to enroll children from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and disadvantaged groups at entry-level, with 25% seats to be reserved for them, to make these schools more inclusive. Though the enrollment rate in the EWS category under S. 12 (1) (c) of the Act increased from a 21.5% fill rate in 2012-13 to 29% in 2013-14, in Uttar Pradesh, however, this rate was recorded the lowest at 3.62%, by “State of the Nation” (2015) Report. The Report was brought out collectively by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad, Central Square Foundation, Accountability Initiative, and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. The same report estimates that the 25% reservation clause in UP would cover 633262 seats, out of which a total of only 5033 seats were filled in 2014-15 with a seat fill rate of 0.79%. In 2013-14, the seat fill rate was 1.17%. The attitude of elite private schools, in this regard, can be seen from the attitude of City Montessori School (CMS) in the case, City Montessori School v. the State of U.P. (2015), wherein the school was refusing to admit 31 EWS students in one of its branches.

Additionally, RTE Act creates several obligations on the government regarding the quantity and quality of teachers and the operation of schools. The Schedule to the RTE Act includes numerous provisions which specify the number of teachers (at least two for class I to V, and at least one per class for class VI to VIII) and the Pupil-Teacher Ratio (no more than 30:1 in class I to V, for schools with 120 students or fewer, and no more than 40:1 for larger schools; and no more than 35:1 in class VI to VIII.

The target was supposed to be met by March 31, 2013. On U.P.’s schools, ASER 2016 states that only 30.8% comply with the RTE mandated pupil-teacher ratio.

                                                                                                         Or

Visit some schools in your locality and enlist the various program related to SSA. How these programs can help in the harmonization of the Right to Education Act, 2009 and SSA?

Ans. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a program for Universalisation of Elementary Education covering the entire country, started in 2001. The program aims to provide useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the 6 to 14 years age group by 2010. It is an initiative to universalize and improve the quality of education in a mission made through decentralized and context-specific planning and a process-based time-bound implementation strategy. The programmer emphasizes bridging all gender and social category gaps at the elementary education level. SSA was initiated in 2001 following recommendations from the state education ministers’ conference in 1998. Although the 86th Amendment to the Constitution enacted in 2002 made elementary education a fundamental right, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act that operationalizes the provision of free and compulsory education was not passed by the Parliament until August 2009.

By following points, SSA programs can help in the harmonization of the Right to Education Act, 2009:

1. The SSA is governed at the Center by a General Body chaired by the Prime Minister, an Executive Committee, and a Project Approval Board. In the states, it is implemented through separately registered societies with staff deputed from the state government or appointed on contract. A Governing Body and an Executive Committee function in every state too. A State Project Director oversees the SSA at the state level, in addition to the already existing Director/Commissioner of Education.
2. The RTE Act envisages a National Advisory Council at the Center and State Advisory Councils, to advise on the implementation of the Act. As for monitoring, the Act designates the NCPCR and the SCPCRs (or REPA) to ensure that the rights of children are not violated.
3. SSA has a Joint Review Mission (JRM) that reviews the progress of the project every six months. The developmental partners of SSA, namely the World Bank, the DFID, and the European Commission, are a part of this JRM exercise.
4. RTE requires the entire education department to be geared in a unified manner to take up the task on a long-term basis. In the long run, this would require the unification of the existing SSA structures with the regular education department. The actual convergence of SSA structures with the regular education department and the SCERT should commence immediately; dichotomous and overlapping structures, wherever they exist and are adversely affecting the program, should be eliminated. However, complete integration of SSA and Elementary Education Department structures may take some time. It is, therefore, prudent to implement a transitional strategy whereby a modified SSA remains the modality to be replaced by a new scheme compatible with the provisions of the Act from the middle of the Twelfth Plan period. Till then, SSA would be the vehicle for the implementation of the RTE Act.
5. Thus, the NAC/SACs under the RTE Act will coexist with the General Body and Executive Committee structure of the SSA till the NAC/SACs take over the full advisory role by end of the Eleventh Plan. Similarly, as the NCPCR/SCPCR (REPA) gradually takes over the monitoring role, and it becomes clear what the future role of the development partners shall be beyond the Eleventh Plan period, the JRM would continue. In the meantime, the precise nature of review and monitoring beyond the Eleventh Plan could be worked out in a manner that fulfills the provisions of the Act.

NIOS DLED Solved Assignment Course-501 Full Answer In English

Q1. Who are the ones who have dropped out? Visit some schools in your locality and prepare a list of the drop-out children at the elementary level in your District. Enlist the reasons for the same? What can you do, as a teacher, to ensure student retention in school?

Ans. A dropout is a student who was enrolled at some time during the previous school year but who was not enrolled (and who does not meet reporting exclusions) on day 20 of the current school year. A single individual may be counted as a dropout more than once if s/he drops out of school in multiple years.

Out of approximately 200 million children in the age group 6-14 years, only 120 million are in school. The overall dropout rate was 40 percent at the primary level and 55 percent at the upper primary level in 1999-2000 (India Vision, 2020).

In a resettlement colony in northwest Delhi, I had a conversation with 54-year-old Abha Devi about why her family stopped sending her 15-year-old granddaughter Soni to school. Abha’s family was forcefully evicted from a central Delhi jhuggi-jhopri (JJ) cluster in Delhi in 2006, along with other families, and resettled in a JJ resettlement colony close to the Haryana border. Abha’s 13-year-old grandson continues his schooling in the JJ resettlement colony where they currently live, while Soni dropped out of school at the age of 12. Abha and her family, including Soni, pointed out that it is unsafe for girls to go out in this JJ colony. Women’s safety – or the lack thereof – is a recurrent narrative across Delhi’s resettlement colonies.

According to the Social and Rural Research Institute-India Market Research Bureau 2014 survey data, the percentage share of girls out of school is higher than that of boys in the age bracket of 6-13 years in Delhi as well as in urban India. However, both rates of out-of-school children and their gender disparity are much higher in NCT Delhi compared to urban India on average in the same age bracket. Gender disparity in out-of-school children is further sharpened in urban resettlement colonies in Delhi.

Like many large cities in India, the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) regularly evicts jhuggi settlements from the central parts of the city. The GNCTD provides resettlement plots to some of the evicted bastes (slums and JJ clusters) dwellers in the margins of the city within so-called ‘planned’ resettlement colonies. Fear and lack of oversight in the nascent resettlement colonies constrain women’s mobility. Young girls and boys experience urban displacement differently, especially about their experiences with schooling after eviction and resettlement. While most boys continue schooling, girls mostly drop out after a certain age.

Existing research reveals three main reasons for high dropout rates for girls in India: higher expectations of domesticity from girls (early marriage, sharing domestic responsibilities with parents, and so on); safety concerns (boys teasing and taunting girls traveling to and from school); and infrastructural barriers (such as lack of toilets for girls in schools). Lack of women’s safety emerges as a key reason for the high female dropout rate in Delhi’s resettlement colonies.

The lack of women’s safety as a constraint for female education and mobility has become a trope. This is not to suggest that the lack of women’s safety is a myth in these resettlement colonies. However, my research, based on interviews with young girls and women, highlighted that there are several other factors at play that impact this idea of ‘safety’.

Saying that it is only women’s safety concerns that cause girls to drop out of school camouflages a deep-rooted patriarchal psyche that could be the actual driver. ‘Ghar (home)’ or ‘inside’ is seen as the ideal place for girls. While gender-based violence ‘inside’ the home is acceptable, the lack of women’s safety ‘outside’ the home is a threat.

Although the better implementation of existing programmers for women’s empowerment is a challenge, it is not sufficient to ensure a gender-sensitive environment. Flagship programs do not take into account ground-level realities. Recognizing and attacking context-specific patriarchal norms and practices should be the first step. Community mobilization is the real challenge for the success of program goals.

Grassroots-level organizations such as Jagori initiated a more nuanced approach to combat gender-based violence in selected resettlement colonies in Delhi. Their plan includes training a cadre of youth leaders – both boys and girls –to “explore and understand issues of ending violence, building resistance and confidence”. Research-based action and understanding of deep-rooted and context-specific problems in each resettlement colony and planning accordingly are crucial for successful outcomes. Action-based research, acknowledging the residents of the resettlement colonies as participants in the research and planning process as well as bridging gaps among residents, community leaders, volunteers, researchers, and planners is equally important. Research-based action going hand in hand with action-based research is the need of the hour.

Shashi Kant Singh, Principal of a government school in Dwarka told First post that many of the students do not take admission even if their names are sent by the MCD schools.

“If a school sends names of 270 students normally 230 of them finally show up for admission,” he said. He also said that it was difficult to assess why some students never show up for admission, but he surmised that some of them take admitted to the schools in the neighboring states.

Ashok Agarwal attributes the sudden rise in dropout rates to the neglect shown by the Delhi government towards the MCD schools. “The schemes introduced by the education department to decrease dropout rates are meant for the students studying in the schools run by the Delhi government,” he said.

He also added that no scheme has been introduced to do the same in MCD schools. This is the prime reason why dropout rates have jumped to an alarming level in these schools. He said that there is no scheme initiated by the education department even to bring these students back to school.

Or

Visit some schools in your locality and prepare a report on the issue of protecting child rights.

Ans. The brutal murder of a 7-year-old in a Gurgaon school and the rape of a 5-year-old in a Delhi school have once again reminded us of how unsafe schools can be for their children. It brings back memories of the twin drowning cases last year – one in a Delhi school (which is part of the same chain in which the 7-year-old was murdered) and the other in a government-run public school. These tragedies in school campuses aren’t just limited to schools in India but also occur in some of the developed countries as well. The central government on its part has passed laws such as the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO Act) and many state and city governments have issued school safety guidelines. Yet, the efficacy of such laws is very poor given the state’s poor capacity for implementation of such laws and guidelines. Having robust state-mandated laws and protocols is a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition to protect our children in school. For example, while every state government mandates police verification for school teaching staff, very few police departments have a robust and timely police verification system. While schools may find ways to get the police to complete the verification of their staff, it doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a criminal sneaking into the school’s payrolls. Another example is the recommended use of CCTVs by various governments. While CCTVs are important, they are often used retrospectively to analyze an offense rather than proactively to prevent one.

But there are a few things parents can and should do to ensure that the school is safe for their children – from sexual offenses, bullying, corporal punishment, physical safety, natural calamities, and medical emergencies. I’m sharing a few best practices some safe schools follow around my locality:

1. Safe schools often have a matured and independent safety committee with representations from parents, teachers, and expert consultants. This committee has the mandate to work with the school on developing metrics for safety audits, process and policy design, and creating buy-in from the parent community on safety issues. But the primary responsibility of this committee is to help the school balance the safety concerns against curriculum requirements. Theoretically, the safest school is the one that locks its kids and teachers in a single room with no movement outside in corridors or playgrounds! But that was not what schools are built for. Many good schools have abandoned any experiential and outdoor learning in favor of traditional classroom teaching because they are not confident of their safety procedures. A good parent safety committee must provide this support and comfort to schools by encouraging parents to volunteer as tour marshals.
2. Much of a school’s safety is incidental to its environmental design and its architecture. A school should have no dead zones – areas nobody has visibility over. For example, there should be no doors that can be locked (except for individual bathroom units), no doors without transparent/glass panels, and no rooms within rooms on the entire campus. Much of the crimes in schools can be prevented over the principle of ‘see and be seen. Corridors and classrooms that encourage natural surveillance provide the best deterrence. CCTV cameras should cover all the common areas especially remote or less populated areas. Unfortunately, most CCTVs are rendered useless due to their poor positioning and poor quality of images. Also, CCTVs are effective only when there are pairs of eyes scanning the live video feed. As parents, talk about its environmental design to your school.
3. A proven method to build safe schools around the world is to have a culture of teachers ‘walking around’ during breaks, transition times, assembly time, and dispersal at the end of the school. Research across schools in many geographies has time and again proven that schools that have dedicated teacher patrol routines during break and transition time drastically reduce bullying, physical accidents, etc. Teacher patrols also build a large culture of care in the school community. Every student knows that someone is always watching out for us. Unfortunately, Indian schools unlike their counterparts in the west, do not focus on this protocol. Many of the state’s safety guidelines are silent on teacher patrols. As a parent, work with your school to ensure that caring adults are walking around the campus, especially in areas where offenses could happen – bathrooms, gym room, labs, deserted areas behind the school building, etc.
4. Safety doesn’t happen by accident. It happens through disciplined and consistent practice. Safe schools are diligent about their scheduled and unscheduled safety drills and training. Everyone in the community takes these drills seriously. Safe schools are also serious about sharing the lessons of safety drills and tweaking their processes. Parents should check the track record and findings of such drills in their schools.
5. Often, Indian schools relegate the management of their blue-collared staff to third-party contractors building very little engagement and ownership among them. As much as a rigorous recruitment process, safe schools ensure continued engagement and training of its blue-collared workers. Training not only includes protocols and procedure training but also training on yoga, meditation and spirituality. As a parent knows, that safety is more about culture than it is about processes. Ask your school — how do they ensure engagement and ownership among its blue-collared workers?
6. Teachers who can teach their subject well need not necessarily be good at handling child safety issues. Does your school constantly invest in training and sensitizing teachers? Are all the teachers able to identify a child in distress? Do they have the maturity to sensitively handle issues and protect the child as per law and child rights guidelines? As a parent, ask your school about the training the school has invested in. Talk to the teachers to get a sense of the school has well-articulated emergency procedures that are well understood by all.
7. As crude as it may sound, most safe schools will have a no-touch policy. No teacher or staff, irrespective of gender, is allowed to touch any child for any reason whatsoever. While it may sound very conservative, it does, for a school system as a whole, ensure the safety of the child (and the teacher too in cases of false/wrong accusations). Parents should have a dialogue with the school on what their policy on student-teacher touch is.
8. Safe schools do a good job of enforcing access controls in different parts of the school. No access zone areas are demarcated— like zero access for bus drivers/conductors to children’s restrooms. Dead zones are adequately barricaded and rights of access are articulated visually. As a parent, see if you are experiencing these controls when you visit the school.
9. While all Indian schools take student attendance in the morning, most schools do not have a robust mechanism to track students between class periods. No wonder many of the recent accidents or abuses in Indian schools happened in between classes. Some of the good practices include attendance in every class, the corridor passes for stepping out of classes, etc. Such a tracking system not only makes the individual teacher accountable for each child in the class but also makes students accountable for their movement during class time.
10. Lastly, no school, like anything else in life, can guarantee absolute safety. While the school may do everything in letter and spirit to substantially decrease the probability of an accident, it may not be able to eliminate the possibility of an accident. Safety is everybody’s business—not just the school’s or the government’s. Parents should not delude themselves by abdicating or outsourcing their child’s safety to the school. As a parent, ensure that your children are empowered to deal with any situation. Invest time in teaching them how to keep themselves safe. Take efforts to build your understanding of various issues faced by children of today.

NIOS DLED Assignment Course-501 Full Answer In English