Commission flays schools’ proprietors over pupils’ safety

The Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC) has cautioned schools proprietors against compromising the health and safety of their pupils, saying it would henceforth prosecute those that evade the auditing process.

Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission; Hakeem Dickson gave the warning at a meeting with heads of private schools’ association and consultants in Lagos.

He lamented that most schools carry out renovations without obtaining necessary permits from either the physical planning agency or the commission.

He noted that most of the schools do not have students’ insurance, which he said, was mandatory since schools were public places, stressing that insurance policy must be put in place to cover the teachers and students so that if anything happens to them, their managements could be sued.

His words: “Students get missing in schools, involve in accidents in the school bus and so many other things happen, so, we are thinking of how we could reduce such accidents.

“We had a meeting with the schools last year, they all agreed that we should come for auditing but most schools in the entire Lagos state have no element of safety and this is one of the reasons why students get missing.

“It is time for owners of schools would face the law and any accident in school, parents should call the LSSC and we will defend you. The school would pay a fine.”

Dickson explained that management of schools needed to sign a well-documented safety policy for the security of students, teachers, their customers and visitors to their premises.

Speaking, LSSC Schools’ Safety administrator, Dapo Taiwo stressed that with enforcement of safety standards, incidences of injuries and harm caused to students in schools would be reduced.

“One of the things we are looking at is that all schools must at least have perimeter wall-fence because that is where security starts. Management of schools must also take responsibility and control and pre-empt any security breach and the risks of their eventuality.”

“We will be impacting knowledge on the school management, staff and students on how to reduce disasters in schools. We will visit schools in the senatorial districts, local governments and police stations and bring the stakeholders together to discuss how best to secure school environments.

Representatives of Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI); Tina Daniels and the League of Muslim Schools Proprietors (LMSP), Bello Muyiwa, commended the commission for the initiative and urged more sensitisation in the auditing and necessary safety requirements in schools.