NEW DELHI: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered that no new government or private school would be given affiliation if

the building did not have fire safety measures and earthquake resistant structure.
Pained by the heart-rending death of 93 children in a fire at a Kumbakonam school in Tamil Nadu five years ago, a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and H S Bedi said, "Children cannot be compelled to receive education from an unsound and unsafe building."
Referring to painful incidents involving death of school children due to fire in Kumbakonam as well as Dabwali in Haryana in 1995, the Bench said, "It has become imperative that safety measures as prescribed by the National Building Code of India, 2005, be implemented by all government and private schools functioning in our country."
The other directions to all state governments are:
           * all existing government and private schools shall install fire extinguishing equipment within a period of six months 
           * school buildings are to be kept free from inflammable and toxic material or stored safely
           * evaluation of structural aspect of the school building must be carried out periodically 
           * school staff must be well-trained to use the fire-extinguishing equipment
The Bench asked the education secretary of every state and Union Territory to file an affidavit of compliance of its order within a month, virtually putting them in fear of contempt of court if any dereliction was noticed in implementation of the order.
Though the court noticed the efforts taken by some states to fight the danger of fire in schools and specifically mentioned those undertaken by authorities in Gujarat and Puducherry, it was aghast to find many states moving slowly in this direction.
"These delays and variations have subjected millions more school children to danger from fire, earthquakes and other causes, when simple enhancement could offer much greater protection," it said.
"Articles 21 and 21-A of the Constitution require that India's school children receive education in safe schools. In order to give effect to the provisions of the Constitution, we must ensure that India's schools adhere to basic safety standards without further delay," it said.

source: TOI