Chennai: Twenty-two years ago, more than 100 students had nowhere to run, when a cluster of schools functioning from a two-storey residential set-up in Kumbakonam caught fire; 94 were charred to death, and 16 were gravely injured.Now, a TOI visit in and around the city last week revealed that not much has changed. Negligence by school management and authorities, and lackadaisical attitude of parents still puts children in danger.Many schools in Pudupet, Mylapore, Mannady (George Town) and Royapuram are run in residential single-storey buildings, admitting students up to Class V. These schools were nursery/primary with just one gate for entry/exit hardly 3ft wide. A few others, such as the decades-old renovated Sri Kumaran Vidyalaya in Mylapore, had steps and other structures made of plywood. Other schools functioned on narrow, cramped lanes where no fire engines or ambulances could enter.According to the school education department, private schools must adhere to provisions of the Tamil Nadu Private Schools (Regulation) Rules, amended recently in 2023, and the Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019, which mandate specific requirements such as 400sqft classrooms, 3m ceiling height, mandatory corridors/verandahs, ventilation and multiple entry exits.Officials said some schools that adhere to the entry/exit rules, leave out other basics. For instance, the Sri Kanakambigai Nursery Primary School in KK Nagar, which had two entry/exits, lacked classrooms with partition and fire extinguisher, which is mandatory for fire clearance. More than 30 students study at the school, which functions from a two-storey structure, with fees ranging from as much as ₹13,070 to ₹15,730 for pre-KG to Class V.The real problem, the directorate of private schools said, was the lack of adequate space inside such schools. “Norms stipulate that a student should have 10sqft of space in a classroom and teacher, 40sqft. A single-teacher classroom with 40 students should ideally have a minimum of 500sqft, but residential structures hardly offer the space,” an official said. “And, there’s poor ventilation too.”The situation worsens when more students are enrolled. “For every 20 students, there should be a toilet and for every 50, a urinal (in case of boys). But even when the class strength increases, these facilities are not upgraded,” the official said.At present, every school must obtain five licences from five different departments — land, sanitation, fire safety, stability and operation license — and renew them every three years. Private school associations, however, said many nursery and primary schools fudge their numbers, showing less class strength to skip upgrades.“At least 2,000 of the 5,500 matric nursery and primary schools in the state, are improper and function from unsafe set-ups. Inspections carried out by district educational officers are often improper and rushed,” said M Arumugam, president of Federation of Private Schools Association (FePSA).District education officer (private schools) Jaishankar denied improper inspections and said the issue had more of a legislative constraint. “Certain provisions such as classroom size and entry/exits were added to the TN Private Schools (Regulation) Rules only in 2023. Schools that were functioning before that need not adhere to all these rules if they are not constructing additional buildings or expanding their campus. We, however, ensure that new schools do not violate the norms,” he said, adding that a thorough scrutiny will be taken up again.Director of private schools S Suganya said any effort to increase scrutiny for unsafe schools that are decades-old will have to go through an amendment to the rule. “On our end, we regularly ask the DEOs to inspect school buildings and take action before the commencement of the academic year. Several renewal licences have been rejected for a lack of safety,” she said.Educationists said parents had to be blamed too. “Not many parents check with schools for licences. Many are only bothered about admitting their wards to schools close to their homes. Higher-ups should also provide visual proof of inspections to schools while awarding/cancelling licences,” S Arumainathan, TN Students Parents’ Welfare Association said.
