School’s safety

School staff in general are not trained to look out for hazards or deal with them.

The fire which broke out due to a gas leak in a classroom at a Shahdara Town school on the outskirts of Lahore could so easily have been much worse. As it is, it inflicted serious burn injuries on 22 children aged between six and eight years and their young teacher who courageously attempted to save them from harm. What is appalling is that the existence of a gas leak, probably from a gas heater installed in the classroom, was apparently pointed out to the school administration as children entering the room smelled the odour, but no action appears to have been taken to keep them safe. The explosion took place after a match was lit by a school guard right outside the gas-filled classroom. The children, who have mainly suffered injuries to the face and hands, can be considered lucky. Doctors at the Mayo Hospital to which they were taken, say they are confident all will recover, including two who suffered critical injuries. The teacher, too, remains at the hospital, herself having suffered severe burns.

The issue here is not of a single incident but of the wider problem of safety at schools. Just as is the case in public buildings, including shopping plazas, factories, other workplaces, hotels and even hospitals, contingencies for fire safety exist in few places. Staff are not trained to look out for hazards or deal with them. In other incidents, the lack of escape routes has led to deaths.

Especially in schools where administrations are responsible for the welfare and safety of children entrusted to them, we need to do more to ensure regulations are put in place and followed. It is unclear if sufficient rules exist at present. The members of the school’s management have, in this case, been arrested for negligence — but this is not enough to prevent other similar accidents which could so easily lead to still worse suffering and a high toll on life. We need to act now to prevent such a disaster before it occurs, given that prevention, after all, is always better than dealing with the aftermath of a grave mishap.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2013.