DCPCR mulling issuing advisory to AAP govt for more women sanitation staff in schools

The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) is mulling issuing an advisory to the AAP government for engaging more women sanitation staff in schools to ensure safety of girl students, following the sexual assault of a girl by a sweeper at a private school earlier this month, officials said on Monday.

The child rights body had already issued a notice to the school authorities seeking explanation in the matter.

"We are mulling issuing an advisory to the Delhi government to ensure that there should be more female sanitation staff. The existing male staffers could be repositioned. Having more female sanitation staff will help in addressing the issue of child sexual abuse," DCPCR chairman Ramesh Negi said.

He said they will have a meeting and decide about it.

However, parents' bodies are not quite enthused with the move and said the advisory will not help address the issue.

Ashok Agarwal, president, All India Parents' Association, said this advisory is "unnecessary".

"This shows a narrow level of thinking and promotes gender discrimination. On one hand, the government is promoting the concept of co-ed schools and on the other hand, the child rights body is thinking about this. If there are 50 female staffers in the school and only 10 male staffers, there is a possibility that one of the 10 male staffers might be involved in something heinous," he said.

Aparajita Gautam, president of Delhi Parents' Association, was also critical of the move and accused the child rights body of "inaction".

"They (DCPCR) has not done anything for ensuring the safety of children in schools. Merely issuing an advisory won't solve the issue. They have to ensure that school become 'zero-tolerance' zones for any type of crimes," she said.

Earlier this month, a five-year-old student of a private school was allegedly sexually assaulted by a sweeper inside the school premises in south Delhi's GK-II area. The accused was arrested.

In February this year, a 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a sweeper inside a civic body-run school in Shahdara district of Delhi, following which the accused was arrested.