School stray dog guidelines have been issued across North 24 Parganas after repeated concerns over stray and aggressive dogs entering school premises and putting students at risk. The district inspector of schools (secondary education) has directed all schools and madrasas to take preventive measures under the new instructions.
The directive was issued by the North 24 Parganas district inspector of schools’ office, citing earlier Supreme Court directions and an order from the state school education commissioner. School heads across the district have been instructed to ensure that the guidelines are implemented strictly.
Under the instructions, each school’s designated nodal teacher must discuss the issue with the head of the institution and take prompt action to control the presence of dogs on school premises. Schools have also been asked to coordinate with the local block administration or the relevant municipal employees responsible for dog-control measures.
The directive refers schools to the standard operating procedure and guidelines of Animal Husbandry of India while planning the protective measures. The instructions place responsibility on school authorities to maintain coordination with local administrative bodies rather than handling the issue in isolation.
Additional district school inspectors for the Bongaon and Basirhat subdivisions, along with all school inspectors, have been asked to monitor whether schools are complying with the rules. Their role includes keeping watch over the implementation of the instructions at individual schools.
The order comes amid reports of stray dogs entering or gathering around school premises in different parts of the country. The report cited an incident in Balasore, Odisha, where a Class III student was reportedly attacked and seriously injured by a stray dog while going to the bathroom inside a school campus. It also referred to an incident at a government primary school in Siswal village in Haryana’s Hisar district, where a dog reportedly entered a classroom and bit six students.
A separate incident was reported from a school in Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri, where several dogs were seen moving around students during the mid-day meal. The presence of dogs around young children during meal distribution raised concerns over the possibility of an accident on the school premises.
For North 24 Parganas schools, the directive creates a formal chain of responsibility involving school heads, nodal teachers, block administrations, municipalities and school inspectors. The district education authorities have said the measures are intended to ensure that students’ safety is not compromised during school hours. Compliance monitoring by the subdivision-level and school-level inspectors is the next stated step under the directive.
