Parents' body writes to CM seeking strict SOP for coaching class trips after Diveagar drowning

Eight students from Pune drowned in the sea at Diveagar in Raigad during a trip organised by a private coaching class. Parents' organisations are angry after the incident, and have written directly to the Chief Minister about such private class trips, putting forward several demands.

Rohit Shyamsundar Dandwate, president of the Mumbai-based Global Parents Teachers Association, has sent the Chief Minister a two-page letter. In it, he has demanded that a strict standard operating procedure (SOP) be put in place for private trips.

In the letter, Dandwate said that Education Department rules apply to school and college trips, but nobody controls the trips of private coaching classes, which charge fees running into lakhs of rupees. He raised the issue that there is no proper arrangement for planning, permission or the safety of students on these trips.

He referred to the Diveagar incident and also recalled the earlier deaths of 14 students at Murud. He demanded that the government act immediately so that such incidents are not repeated.

The memorandum also demands that a case of culpable homicide be registered against the operator of the coaching class responsible for the Diveagar incident, and that the class's recognition be cancelled. The parents' organisation said responsibility must be fixed in the matter and proper legal action taken.

The association has made one more demand: a separate, strict SOP for private coaching class trips. It wants permission from the concerned department made mandatory before students are taken to places such as beaches, dams and forts.

Dandwate appealed to the state government to treat the question of students' safety seriously and decide immediately. The organisation also warned that if a strict SOP for private coaching class trips is not implemented within the next 15 days, a public interest litigation will be filed in the High Court.

The association said student safety must come first when planning a class trip. The organisation's position is that there should be clear rules, a system to fix responsibility, and provision for action against those who break the rules, so that such incidents do not recur.