Poonch, Mar 17: In a major development aimed at enhancing school safety, 1400 teachers from government schools of Poonch district have been trained as School Safety Counsellors in a one-day orientation programme.
The event saw a specialised team from Civil Defence demonstrating safety preparedness to the participants and resource persons delivered lectures on various aspects of school safety and security, including cybercrimes, child safety, the POCSO Act, and the role of parents and community in School Safety and Security in the training.
The main training programme was conducted at Government Boys’ Higher Secondary School Poonch, where District Education Planning Officer NM Suri was the chief guest who in his address emphasised the need to raise awareness among students and all stakeholders about the importance of school safety and to create school-wide safety plans.
Chief Education Officer Poonch, Bishamber Dass, said that 16 Principals, 11 ZEOs, 12 Key Resource Persons, and 80 Resource Persons from all 11 zones were involved in the training process. He added that the department has emphasised the utmost importance of having a strict and comprehensive school safety plan in place in all schools for which this training was conducted.
The training programme is part of a larger initiative by the government under SAMAGRA Shiksha to improve the safety and security of students in schools, staff, and visiting community members, he added. The newly trained School Safety Counsellors will play a crucial role in ensuring a conducive learning environment for students by identifying and addressing any safety and security issues that may arise. The training programmes were coordinated by Darshan Kumar and Harish Sharma, members of the district resource group Poonch.
