Child safety audit ordered at all Chandigarh city schools

Chandigarh, July 11: The Chandigarh administration has ordered a child safety audit at all city schools, hours after a student died and several others injured when a tree fell on them. In view of the incident at Carmel Convent School in Sector 9 here, Nikita Panwar, Secretary, Social Welfare and Women and Child Development, has directed the Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights to conduct a child safety audit of all schools, an official statement said.

To carry out the safety audit, a team comprising officials from Social Welfare, Health, Engineering, Education, Municipal Corporation, Forest Departments and police will be constituted. The exercise aims at ensuring that children studying in schools are provided with conducive and safe environment, the statement said.

The committee will give its suggestions to the Department of Social Welfare, Women and Child Development, and schools to take corrective measures so that no such incident occurs in future, news agency PTI reported.

A student was killed and 18 of her school mates sustained injuries after an old tree fell on them inside a school complex here on Friday, officials said. A staff attendant of the school also sustained injuries, they said.

Earlier, Chandigarh's Home Secretary Nitin Yadav had said that a committee will inspect all trees in and around various schools in Chandigarh and take appropriate measures if any tree was found vulnerable.