Education department lays down strict guidelines for excursions

Following the Murud beach tragedy, the education department has issued guidelines for school and college picnics and excursions that include avoiding visits to beaches, rivers and hilly terrain. The list of 27 guidelines also stipulates training of teachers for emergencies and getting sanction and approval of students and parents, failing which the school and the teachers will be prosecuted.

The guidelines requires there to be one teacher for every 10 students and a parent representative to accompany the students. Overnight trips for high school students should not be beyond a night and in case of only one female student traveling, a female staffer should accompany them. Trekking trips and visits to water bodies like the beach and rivers should not be undertaken and trips should have prior permission from education officers. These and many other guidelines have received a sharp reaction from various quarters, including students and faculty.

Uday Nare, a teacher from an Andheri school, said, “The guidelines are not new but it is just the lack of proper implementation that causes them to be repeated after a tragedy like the Murud beach drowning takes place. There is a process wherein the school has to submit a letter of intent to the concerned education officer of the venue of the trip at the start of the year. The trip can be undertaken only after the EO gives his/her approval and sanction. However, the same does not happen and schools assume that the absence of a reply from the department implies permission to go ahead with the trip. An investigation into whether the procedure was duly followed in the incident could bring out surprising facts,” said Mr Nare.

While the guidelines have been issued by the deputy director of Pune the same was also sent to the deputy directors of all regions, said an official from the office of the director of school education.