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Many schools have only one exit point Safety measures
almost unheard of Hamirpur schools lack safety
devices
Despite devastating fires, no lessons
learnt Children climb down the wooden staircase of a primary school in Shimla. Schools lack proper buildings, power No evacuation exercise ever
conducted
The building of a new school in a residential area of Ambala city.
— Photo by Neeraj Chopra Schools in Panipat ignoring safety norms Despite Dabwali, no safety rules 700 govt schools without fire extinguishers Education Officers
to check schools
No fire safety equipment in any govt school DM to take action against defaulter Mock fire exercises a rarity No funds for fire fighting gadgets
The entry gate of Arya Girls Senior Secondary School opening into a narrow lane in Purana Bazar in Ludhiana.
— Photo by Inderjit Verma Schools not aware
of fire safety norms 36 Amritsar
schools declared unsafe
Govt, private schools lack fire fighting gadgets Even where equipment exist, staff not trained Safety norms are seldom
checked Fire drill: What is
that?
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Many schools have only one exit point Yamunanagar, July 26 Primary classes of Swami Vivekananda Senior Secondary School is being held in a three storeyed building with only a single staircase. In the wake of the Tamil Nadu school fire incident some of the parents The Tribune spoke to expressed their concerns regarding the safety of their wards in case of a similar incident or other eventuality. “Senior students could react better in case of an emergency and for them it would be less difficult to run to safety as compared to the small kids”, said a parent of a third standard student. Other parents were of the opinion that the school management should stop holding any class in the building till it is modified. Mr Hans Raj, Vice-Principal of the school, when contacted admitted that there should be more than one exit point in the building. He assured that the smaller classes would be soon shifted to the ground floor. The scene was no different at Shri Harinam Gaurawati Vidyalaya located in a narrow street on the Jagadhri Workshop Road here. Over 200 children of primary classes are being taught in a poorly lit triple storeyed building with only one staircase. A child after attending his class on the top floor has to climb down 30 stairs. “The nursery children are being taught on the ground floor and there is another staircase for the students being taught on the upper floors”, claimed the Principal, Mr M.K Bhatnagar. On the other hand a visit to some of the government schools revealed that there was no such problem of evacuation in those schools. There are several private schools also which have proper exit points. “Our school is spacious and we take all precautionary measures for the safety of children. The Tamil Nadu school fire was a tragic incident. For precaution we are checking electricity wiring in the school”, said Ms Neenu Aggarwal, Principal of DAV Girls Senior Secondary School here. The Fire Department claims that necessary instructions have been issued to all the schools in the district. An official admitted that a large number of schools do not have fire fighting equipment. The Deputy Commis-sioner, Mr Vijeyander Kumar, when contacted informed that there was a disaster management plan and the schools had been asked to carry out ‘escape’ drills.
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Safety measures
almost unheard of Jhajjar, July 26 A survey of the schools in Jhajjar and Bahadurgarh township exposed the gross flaws in this area. The government schools have no such equipments or preparedness to deal with any fire situation. When the issue was taken up with the principals of these schools, they said that no such guidelines or norms were laid by the Education Department. They felt there was no need for such arrangement as “the schools were airy and spacious enough and if any fire occurred in the building the students could run safely in the open grounds”. Some fire extinguishers are installed in the laboratories, maintained a principal of Government School, Bahadurgarh. The situation is even deplorable in the private schools situated in the congested localities and in small and dark buildings. The number of such schools is above 250 in Bahadurgarh alone. The students are crammed in the rooms and the main gate is even locked during the school time. School owners and principals of such schools are not ready to talk on this topic. Even certain big private schools which are affiliated to the CBSE have thrown the norms to the wind, describing it as a wasteful investment. The only exception was Bal Bharti School at Bahadurgarh in which fire equipments were properly installed and maintained at eight points. Certain private schools owners in Jhajjar also claimed that they conform to the norms as required by the CBSE. But they admit that the equipment were installed only in the laboratories.
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Hamirpur schools lack safety
devices Hamirpur, July 26 There are 772 educational schools in the district including those run by private parties. These include 508 primary schools, 108 middle schools, 92 high schools and 64 plus-two schools. There are also seven colleges in the district besides a National Institute of Technology, a government polytechnic and three degree colleges located at Hamirpur, Nadaun, Sujanpur Tihra, Chakmoh and Tarkwari. The government colleges are also without adequate fire safety measures. However, entry and exit points for these schools, except that of Tarkwari are to the mark. Tarkwari, College is still running in a private building. In Hamirpur town, there are at least one dozen schools of repute. These include two government senior schools for boys and girls, Him Academy Public school, Blue Star Public school, Silver Bells Public school, Aims Public school, Gurukal Public school and Hamir Public school. Fire safety measures don’t exist in the schools. Blue Star Public School is housed in a multi storey building in front of the Mini Secretariat here. This school is surrounded by shops of halwais and dhabas Mrs Suman, Lata Chaudhry, Principal of the school, says fire safety measures are installed in the labs of the school. The school was also planning to install such gadgets in other class rooms and other important places of the institution. According to her, the school runs at two places. While classes 1 to X are run in the own building of the school, plus-one and two classes are held in the upper floor of a multi- storey building just near Gandhi Chowk. She says the new campus of the school is coming up shortly near the Government Degree College at the site of Gharyana Da Pul. Other private institutions like Him Academy public school, Aims Public School and Gurukul Public Schools are sans fire safety measures. However, there is no entry and exit problem in these institutions. Hamirpur Deputy Director of Education, Nanak Chand Chauhan, when contacted on the phone said that he was not in the knowledge of fire safety measures in schools of the district. It was the duty of the heads of the institutions to make such arrangements, as no such instructions had been received from the state government about fitting the schools with fire alarm equipments.
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Despite devastating fires, no lessons
learnt Shimla, July 25 The Education Department as well as the HP Board of School Education has so far not formulated any fire safety norms to be followed in schools in the state. In case of a fire in schools which are housed in old British time buildings, especially in Shimla, even a minor incident would spell doom as due to the varnish on the planks the fire spreads very fast. The Convent of Jesus and Mary, running from an old British time building constructed in 1864, has its primary section in a wooden building. Built as an orphanage for the children of the British soldiers who died in action, a portion of the building was gutted in a devastating fire in April, 1946. The Principal of the school, Sister Antoinette, said that Rs 50,000 had been spent on installing fire extinguishers in the school in May. "In view of the fire threat especially in the primary school building, we have decided to construct a new concrete block where all the primary classes will be shifted," she informed. The situation in other public schools like Bishop Cotton School, Sacred Heart Convent, St Edwards and Auckland having sprawling campuses is no different. Though most of these schools have constructed new concrete blocks, major portion of the school is still in the old buildings, made mostly of wood. The fact that some of these schools have boarding facilities, increases the threat of fire due to the presence of a kitchen and canteen. The threat of a major disaster due to fire, in many of the government schools in the town looms large as there is liberal use of wood, to keep the place warm in severe winters. The primary section of Portmore School here has two old wooden buildings, having 440 children. One of the building has only a single narrow staircase as an exit route with a canteen running in the ground floor. The Girls Senior Secondary School, Lakkar Bazar, and Government Senior Secondary School at Sanjauli are some of the other buildings which are all dilapidated wooden structures but sans any fire fighting devices. The Director, Secondary Education, Mr O.P. Sharma, said though till now there were no fire safety norms mandatory for schools, but in view of the latest calamity in South India, he had already sent written directions to all government schools, to have fire extinguishers, train staff in its use and educate children about fire hazards and how to cope with it. Another major problem in the town is the location of some of the schools in crowded residential areas, increasing the risk of fire. Moreover, the majority of them are housed in multi-storeyed concrete structures, having only a single exit in the form of a narrow staircase, which could lead to a stampede.
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Schools lack proper buildings, power Mandi, July 25 But there are schools, both government and private, which are run in old wooden buildings fitted with old wirings. In schools fire extinguishers are things that neither the teachers are familiar with, nor do the students know how to use them as no school ever remembers to conduct security drills, sensitising students on fire safety measures or other accidents. Raising fear in Mandi town is the recent fire in Bengla Mohala that gutted a dozen houses last April. Senior Secondary School for Boys is located in a dilapidated wooden building. The fire extinguishers are out of order here as are the wirings. “We are shifting into the new building which is ready now”, says Mrs Padma Upadhaya, its principal. “Now we will ensure that the fire extinguishers are put in place before we take possession of the new building”, she added. Though the students of the nearby DAV Senior Secondary School, Mandi, which has over 900 students on its rolls run the risk of landslips, but the school has adopted fire safety measures unlike in government schools, which have no such concept. “We have a fire extinguisher and two exit points in the three-storeyed building,’’ said Mr.AK Mangal, principal. “We take every precaution to meet such an emergency. Moreover, we have a pucca building and no inflammable material around the building”. The parents’ associations say that most of the private schools, seeking affiliation from the HP Board or other boards are located in crowded localities across the state, with no eye on fire safety norms. “The Kumabakam fire tragedy that killed 90 school children last week should raise our concern”, said Mr Narender Vaidya, a local resident. Parents say that the Senior Secondary School for Girls is located in the congested Samkhetra locality, but is has just one main gate behind the wall on the road side, where students run the risk of accident. Commenting on the fire safety norms in the schools, the Director Education, Secondary Schools, Mr O.P. Sharma, said that the government was issuing instructions to the schools to put the fire safety measures in the buildings. “Most of the senior secondary schools are located in open areas but we are making arrangement to locate the primary schools in proper buildings”.
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No evacuation exercise ever
conducted Dharamsala, July 25 The situation was no better in Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, Dharamsala, where the half-a-dozen odd fire extinguishers put up in the corridors have turned into junk. Similarly, Government Senior Secondary School for Boys, Dharamsala, had a couple of fire extinguishers installed but even the old-timers of the school were not sure whether or not these were in working condition. Adhunik Public School, Sidhbari, had a total of nine fire extinguishers installed at various points in the two-storeyed building. Ms Kamla Sharotri, director-principal of the school, said that these had been re-filled only last month. "We get the extinguishers re-filled every year and the male members of the clerical and teaching staff have been given training to use these,’’ she said. There are also schools located in residential areas or congested market places, which besides lacking adequate equipment also have congested exits. For instance, DAV School, which is located in a narrow lane in Kotwali Bazar and also has some of its rooms in the basement, does not have much in the name of fire fighting equipment. Despite repeated attempts, the school principal could not be contacted. None of the school authorities had ever given a thought to evacuation exercises or training some of their senior students to fight fire in case of any eventuality. All of them, however, promised that they would start the practice soon. When contacted, the Deputy Director (Education), Secondary, Kangra, Mr R.D.Sharma, said that after the tragedy in Tamil Nadu, they had planned to have inspections of the government schools to make sure that they have proper fire safety arrangements. "We will make this an essential item in the surprise checks also," he said. Mr Sharma clarified that the school authorities had to put up fire safety equipment on their own and his office had to only ensure that these were in place. |
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Teachers ignorant about safety drill Ambala, July 23 The Principal of a private recognised school admitted that even though certain fire fighting equipment is available, training has been imparted to only a few staff members. “In the light of the Kumbakonam tragedy, I have decided that all the teachers will undergo training in handling fire safety equipment. Also, the teachers will teach the students to maintain discipline during any eventuality so that the building can be evacuated quickly,” she said. The Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, Mr RP Gupta, said he had already written to the
Education Department to undertake extensive checking of all schools for fire fighting capability. “The schools must meet the fire department specifications, including easy access to fire brigades, large gates and other necessary features,” he said. Mr Gupta said the checking would be carried out in all schools, including unrecognised schools. “We will ensure that all protective measures are in place. I must stress that parents must look into the fire safety available at the school before giving admission to their wards,” he said. Mr Ashwin Sareen, management member of DAV Public School (by the riverside), Ambala Cantt, claimed that their school had the best firefighting system in the district. “We have underground and overhead water tanks. There are two hose reel systems for each floor besides water sprinklers and fire extinguishers. It meets the stringent requirements of the building code,” he said. Mrs Sudha Mathur, Principal of Lord Mahavir Jain Public School, said that their spacious class rooms have two doors besides a 10 ft wide verandah. “Fire extinguishers and alarm are at the laboratories. We have also kept sand bags,” she explained. Government schools, particularly those in the villages, will be comparatively easier to evacuate. Most of the government schools have simplistic buildings which open into a large play ground. There is ample space and large gates in case the school building has to be evacuated. Also, in village schools, due to the ready availability of land, the rooms normally do not face each other. However, these government schools lack any fire fighting arrangement. The District Education Officer, Mr Rajinder Pal Singh Pawar, said they had received a letter from the Education Directorate on fire safety measures. “We are going to instruct all the schools, under our purview, to maintain fire safety standards. There are about 200 government schools and about 100 recognised, aided schools in Ambala district,” he said. A fire officer said not only was there need to generate awareness about the measures to be taken if a fire breaks out in a school, all the fire safety requirements must be adhered to by all the schools. “Our major concern are the small unrecognised schools which operate from narrow lanes in which it becomes difficult to take out fire tenders. Also, some of the
unrecognised schools have narrow passageways making access difficult. All the schools, irrespective of the fact whether they are recognised or unrecognised, need to have a proper fire fighting equipment,” he said. |
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Schools
in Panipat ignoring safety norms Panipat, July 23 According to a senior functionary of the District Education Department there are 31 government senior secondary, 22 recognised private senior secondary schools, 60 government high schools 85 recognised private high schools, 47 government middle schools and 39 middle private schools in the district. Besides there are 247 government primary schools and eight private schools. The Tribune team found that a large number of non-recognised schools were functioning in the district. |
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Despite
Dabwali, no safety rules Chandigarh, July 23 The state has framed elaborate rules for the grant of recognition and affiliation to private schools. The rule specify the size of the building as well as the play ground. However, about fire safety, the rules say that norms and regulations of the local civic body would have to be followed and observed. After the Dabwali tragedy, the administration had taken elaborate measures for regular inspection of various buildings. Anyone organising a function under a "pandal" had to take no-objection certificate from the fire brigade. The Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Education, Mr M.L. Tayal, has convened a meeting next week to discuss the issue. Representatives of HUDA, the Urban Development Department and others concerned will participate in the meeting. Mr Tayal says detailed guidelines on fire safety would be issued after the meeting. He points out that the Tamil Nadu tragedy could have been averted if the school did not have a thatched-roof. Fortunately, he says, in Haryana there is no school which is run in a kutcha building. All schools in the state have pucca buildings. |
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700 govt schools without fire extinguishers Karnal, July 23 Of the 229 odd private schools only a few have fire extinguishers while none of the 700 government schools have fire extinguishers. There are 487 government primary schools, 7 aided primary schools, 213 government high/senior secondary schools, 222 private high/senior secondary schools and 11 aided high/senior secondary schools in the district. A random survey of schools in Karnal district conducted by The Tribune revealed that the educational institutes do not follow the norms prescribed, particularly on the safety of pupils. Apart from running schools in dense localities, which at times pose difficulties to the fire service in reaching there in an emergency, the floor space, seating arrangements, ventilation, lighting facilities, aeration, the width of staircase and emergency escape routes, if any, leave a lot to be desired. There are no mock drills with regard to fire safety in educational institutions. A number of schools in the old city of Karnal are located in dense localities in multi-storey buildings with few options of exit. “None of the schools in Karnal are prepared for a fire,” says Mr Chander Bhan Yadav, Fire Officer of Karnal. He says the fire department has prepared a list of all the schools and other educational institutions of the district. Soon it will launch a campaign to ascertain whether they comply with the fire safety norms or not. He says: “The report of those schools who do not comply with the fire safety norms will be forwarded to the local administration for stern action”. When asked whether the schools had obtained no objection certificates from the fire department, he said: “Many of the schools are in old buildings that were constructed when safety measures did not exist. The rules came in later and it is difficult to make the schools adhere to those rules.” “The educational institutions need to have more safety precautions to prevent fires, with strict implementation. All primary classes, especially kindergarten sections, should be allowed only on the ground floor”, says Mr Shikhar Chand Jain, President of the Haryana-Aided Schools Management Association. Dr Rajesh Sharma, a lecturer of English in the local DAV College, wonders how primary classes are being allowed to run on the first and second floors of a building and that too without safety measures such as a wide staircase and a fire escape staircase. |
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Education
Officers
to check schools Sirsa, July 23 There are around 1000 schools in the district, including government, government-aided and private institutes, from the primary level up to the level of senior secondary. Talking to The Tribune, the Sirsa DEO, Mr D.D. Verma confirmed the move on fire safety initiated by the state authorities. “Only yesterday we received a letter from the head office with instructions to take up the issue of fire safety measures and also invited suggestion on the sensitive issue,” he says. Sources in the district administration say that till date the practice of checking the safety measures was completely missing but now the authorities seemingly got up due to pressures from different quarters. The most sensitive are the private schools with boarding facility, as they have limited space and inflammable materials including LPG cylinders in the kitchen, says the DEO. He has planned to call a meeting of the private schools and ask them to take up the issue on priority. |
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Schools
in slums lack proper exits Muktsar, July 22 The worse situation was found in schools that are running from residential premises in most of the slum areas of the districts. In Bathinda, such schools exist in Paras Ram Nagar, Gopal Nagar, Janata Nagar, Jogi Nagar, Lal Singh Basti and Partap Nagar. What to talk of fire fighting equipment, there is no proper way that the students in these schools can be evacuated in case of any fire. These schools are running in congested rooms in narrow lanes. So much so, these schools have narrow staircases leading to the classrooms, and not more than two persons can pass at a time. The Tribune team visited one of such school Ravindra Model School on Gurukul Road, Paras Ram Nagar, Bathinda but found no ‘model’ in this school. The alarming situation in the school can easily be judged from the fact that over 300 schools study in the double storeyed building, built on not more than a 10-marla plot of land. Only two exit points, including the main gate, were found in the school. When contacted, the principal of the school Mr Sadhu Ram, told The Tribune that he was going to install fire-fighting equipment in the school shortly. Similarly, The Tribune found no fire fighting equipment in Good Faith Public High School of the same locality. The principal of the School, Mr P.K. Mittal, said that the school had been recognised by the PSEB but admitted that no PSEB official had asked them to install any fire safety equipment at the time of providing recognition. Schools running in spacious buildings also lack adequate fire fighting arrangements. The principals Mr Jarnail Singh and Ms Neelam Kakkar of Guru Teg Bahadur Senior Secondary School and Sanatam Dharam Senior School of Malout in Muktsar district told The Tribune that they had installed fire extinguisher for their chemistry laboratory. Both claimed that some science teachers knew how to operate them. Similarly, The Tribune team found no fire extinguisher in Police Public School, Bathinda. However, the principal of the school, Mr Raj Kamal Devashwar said that the school was arranging them after the fire incident in
Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, the District Education Officer (DEO) Muktsar, Mr S.K. Mehta, admitted that most of the schools affiliated with the PSEB did not have any fire fighting arrangements. He said that he had already issued a letter to all the schools to take proper fire safety measures for the safety of the students. |
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No fire safety equipment in any govt school Mohali, July 22 ‘‘We have no jurisdiction over government schools. They are run and handled solely by the Education Department. We provide them with affiliation but our fire safety and other norms are meaningless since they are the government's own
schools," pointed ours Mrs Veena Dada, in charge of affiliations, PSEB. Admitting that none of the government schools across the state have any fire safety provisions, the Principal Secretary, School Education, Punjab, Mrs Tejinder Kaur, stated that the department would come up with a policy in this regard. ‘‘If fire safety equipment has to be installed in all government schools, a large amount of money will be required. For this other departments of the state have to be roped in. If we get fund for this, it should be just a matter of time before all schools have both fire fighting equipment and trained
staff," she said. Interestingly, however, the Department of Education in its set of regulations for private schools, demands that all schools have fire safety equipment installed. ‘‘Every school that has to apply for an affiliation from the Central Board of Secondary Education has to get a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the District Education Officer (DEO). Among the various conditions laid down by the DEO, adherence to fire safety norms is one,’’ pointed out Mr Rajan Sethi, owner of a set of private schools in Chandigarh and Mohali. So while the Punjab State Education Department is ensuring that fire safety equipment be installed in all CBSE schools across the state, its own schools have no such provisions. ‘‘The main reason for this is that for the past over 32 years there has been no fire related accident in any of the government schools. After the incident in South India we have all woken up to the precautions that need to be
taken," said Mr Gyan Singh, Director, Public Instructions (Schools), Punjab. Mr S.S. Sekhon, the Chief Architect, Punjab, pointed out that government school building plans are made following all the requisite norms of the Fire Act. ‘‘Plans prepared by us are given to the Public Works Department which constructs the government school buildings. Other than strictly following the local area bylaws, we follow the norms laid down by the Fire Safety Acts. The size of the corridors, the classrooms, water tanks etc are built according to the size of the school. |
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DM to take action against defaulter Bathinda, July 22 Mr Sinha, while talking to The Tribune, said that though so far it could not be known how many schools in this district had not installed fire safety equipment, the Additional Deputy Commissioners and General Assistant had been asked to collect information in connection with the same. He said that a meeting with the managements of private schools of the district would be held on Tuesday next and would be urged to equip their schools with fire safety equipment as per the norms laid down by the agency concerned if their school were lacking the same. He added that if it was found that any school management was not taking the necessary steps, penal action would be taken against the school. He pointed out that a comprehensive survey would be conducted in the district. He added that nothing would be left to chance. The District Education Officer (DEO) would also be put on this job. |
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Mock fire exercises a rarity Kapurthala, July 22 During the morning assembly, the principal of the school declared that such an exercise was being planned at the end of the day and that the students should follow the instructions that would be given to them over the microphone. A small log of wood was burnt in the centre of the building for demonstration. The smoke detectors installed in the building rang an alarm. The students were told to quickly come out of the building and gather near the school grounds. The whole exercise was successfully completed in less than three minutes. The officers from the Fire Department who had been invited to attend the exercise demonstrated the use of the dry and wet fire extinguishers. They gave guidelines to the students to be followed in case of such a mishap. They even checked the entire fire extinguishing equipment and declared it fit for the next six months. But unfortunately such arrangements and demonstrations are very unusual in the schools of the district. Most schools of the district do not even have a single fire extinguisher installed in their buildings. Others have one or two extinguishers that are not in working conditions at the moment. The authorities had purchased such systems long ago to fulfill the affiliation norms of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB). As of today they are lying defunct, hung unused on the same wall for the past several years. |
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No funds for fire fighting gadgets Sangrur, July 22 When this reporter today contacted the office of the DEO (Secondary), Sangrur, an officer admitted there were no instructions from the government with regard to installation of fire fighting equipment in the schools. However, the school authorities were free to install such equipment but due to shortage of funds they were unable to install the same, he added. Mr Jiwan Kumar Garg, Principal of Springdales Public Senior Secondary School, Sangrur, said they had four fire extinguishers but they were now lying in the store. However, he stated that they would now install five extinguishers each on the ground and first floor of the buildings. This school had a strength of about 1500 students, and the school building had four escape points each at the ground and first floor, he added. Ms Raveen Pande, Principal, General Gurnam Singh Public School, said the school had no major fire fighting equipment. However, it had small fire extinguishers only in the science laboratory, library and principal’s room. |
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87
school kids burnt to death in TN TN
tragedy toll 90; five held
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