Divyanka Tripathi, Shama Sikander join parents demanding safer schools

Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya, Karan Singh Grover and Shama Sikander

Schools will find it harder to ignore protesting parents' demand for safer schools, with several TV celebrities signing up for the fight.

Well-known faces from TV, such as Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya (Yeh Hai Mohabbatein), Shama Sikander (Yeh Meri Life Hai), and Karan Singh Grover (Hate Story 3, Qubool Hai), have joined more than 2,000 residents of Lokhandwala and the adjoining Oshiwara in signing a petition with 13 demands to beef up security in schools.

The residents, who are petitioning Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, say that the rape of a three-year-old by a Podar school peon, and the more recent murder of a seven-year-old in Haryana, have shaken them up and given them sleepless nights.

They have demanded CCTV cameras with night vision, basic self-defence classes for students and psychometric evaluation of all non-teaching staff among other such measures.

"Along with norms, an independent monitoring agency needs to be implemented to see that these norms are adhered to," said Dhaval Shah, founder of the Lokhandwala-Oshiwara Citizens Association.

Also see: Photos: Sachin Tendulkar and Raj Thackeray's dinner outing with family