Safe Schools- Stuck in Politics

Over the past few years, I took keen interest in revamping the BMC's educational infrastructure, adding to it, many extra curricular activities, that would bring it in the league of any other private school. Be it the addition of the house system for sports, mental health care, gender equality through sports or the astronomy labs and nature clubs, we had added all these to our basic duty of educating children in the BMC run schools.

One project that I was particularly interested in was the "safe schools" project that we initiated with the WRI and BMC.

The "safe schools" project was a simple project, divided into two aspects, internal and external.

"Safe Schools external" was more civic body driven, as it meant that we mapped all the public schools of Mumbai, and eventually private schools too, so that the immediate 50 meter radius of any school becomes safe for kids to step off from their bus and get into the school, and vice versa. It meant better footpaths quality and advanced safety measures, traffic regulation and prevention of accidents.

In Mumbai, as Guardian Minister, I had got the BMC to map these school areas and persuaded the BMC to allocate a sum of 50 crores to initiate this project. It did not entail major expenditure, but smarter planning and minor interventions by the civic body and traffic police, like highlighting the pedestrian crossing, making pedestrian refuge areas, bettering our footpaths and safety measures along it.

"Safe Schools internal" meant that once a child enters the school campus, the child has to be cared for, through the health perspective, both preventive and management. It entailed regular eye check ups, dental check ups, mental healthcare and juvenile diabetes management assistance.

Eye check ups are crucial as most of us who get glasses in school, take time to realise that we need glasses. Blurry eye sight is something we tend to adjust to, by shifting our seats closer to the blackboard, but fail to realise we need glasses.

Dental checks are important as, even today, a lot of students in government schools are under nourished. The reason being, bad teeth lead to adjusting eating habits that give less pain. As a result, the child eats food that isn't necessarily nutritious and thus enters a cycle of malnutrition.

Mental healthcare is equally important as many kids come from different strata of society where they are witness to domestic/ community violence and other traumas, anxiety or societal complexes.

Type 1 Diabetes awareness, detection and management in India has not taken off like it has in many other countries, despite India having a huge number of diabetics. It is extremely crucial that schools take up the awareness, detection and management of diabetes, to bust the myths and help those having it, to better understand it, and not see it as a hurdle in life, and our program entailed just that.

This program was very close to my heart, and we launched this in May 2022, a month before our government was brought down by treachery.

While launching it, and before as well, time and again, I had presented it to the then Urban Development Minister, and requested him to make this into a state wide competition for cities to compete on, for rapid implementation. It involved college students and urban planners to make the plans, getting it vetted by the WRI and then get the municipal corporations and traffic department to implement it.

Sadly, while he nodded in approval, he never absorbed the importance of what it meant and how it would have improved the ease of living.

Unfortunately, with the betrayal of our government and its incumbent, unconstitutional government changed it priorities and stalled this project. Striking it off from its priority list, the 50 crores were diverted from this cause to beautification apparently, a fraudulent exercise where newly made dividers were broken, only to make the same again.

Just like "safe schools", we planned "safe colleges" and "safe hospitals" where we were mapping their vicinities to better them with minor civic interventions.

I hope someday we go beyond silly politics and its pettiness to carry on these policies that are meant for people, and more so, for children, who have no vote, no voice, but that's exactly, why we need to hear them more.

So often, we tend to ignore children and their educational systems. Even if we pay attention to it, we forget their safety and comfort. For us, excellence is about expecting them to score well, but what about governments scoring on student safety, and nourishment of the mind and physical ability?

That is a civic issue, for us all to support our teachers who are nourishing the knowledge of students and expanding their horizons. We must strive to improve their present circumstances, while teachers help pave the way for a brighter tomorrow.

This requires transcending party lines and working together to create a better future for our youth.