Two fire incidents in schools marked this year’s National Fire Service Week, observed from April 14 to 20. The 2026 theme—“Safe School, Safe Hospital and Fire Safety Aware Society—Together for Fire Protection”—coincided with fire outbreaks at schools in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), and Sundargarh, Odisha. Neither incident caused injuries or loss of life, but both resulted in property damage.

A pilot study on school fire safety, published by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in October 2025, warned that “schools remain alarmingly vulnerable to fire hazards.” In response, the NDMA, the Directorate General of Fire Services, and YuvaManthan—an experiential learning platform for Indian youth that organises mock G20 summits, youth parliaments, and hackathons—are jointly running a National Campaign on School Safety from Fire, aimed at schools in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Reports indicate that participating agencies receive token payments and formal recognition from the government to encourage engagement, as fire safety often remains a compromised priority.

“We are focusing more on schools and hospitals because these are highly vulnerable areas,” said Prashant Lonkar, Fire Adviser at the Directorate General of Fire Services. The NDMA, the national and State disaster response forces, and fire safety departments have been asked to conduct drills in schools, said Krishna Vatsa, Head of Department at the NDMA. “Fire safety—and rather disaster management—is a precautionary measure that all schools need to undertake,” Vatsa said. “There is a need to educate and orient children towards necessary precautions. It is a matter of inculcating a safety culture.”

According to the NDMA, more than 50 per cent of Indian schools lack basic fire safety infrastructure. A 2017 NDMA report cited the Dabwali tragedy in Haryana, where 442 people—including 173 children—died in a fire during a prize distribution ceremony at a DAV Public School in December 1995. Another case is the 2004 Kumbakonam fire in Tamil Nadu, where 94 children died when the thatched roof of the Krishna English Medium School caught fire during the preparation of a midday meal. The NDMA report attributed these tragedies to “poor quality of construction, lack of disaster resilient features and poor maintenance of schools.”

“What good are the academics if there is a fire in the school posing danger to the lives of students?” said Neelam Krishnamoorthy, Director of the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT). Krishnamoorthy lost two children in the 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire in Delhi, which killed 59 people by asphyxiation and led to a landmark civil compensation case. She called for fire safety lessons in schools, arguing that “when you teach them young, it goes a long way.”

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE), treats school safety as integral to the fundamental right of education for every child aged 6 to 14. The Act prescribes minimum infrastructure norms for schools—including all-weather buildings, barrier-free access, and sanitation—and provides for School Management Committees to oversee safety and governance at the institutional level. In the 2009 case of Avinash Mehrotra vs Union of India, the Supreme Court linked the RTE’s mandate to fire safety, ruling that the right to education under Article 21-A of the Constitution is meaningless without a safe learning environment. The bench ordered that safety certificates be issued “only after proper inspection” and that “dereliction in duty must attract immediate disciplinary action against the concerned officials.”

Weak national code, weaker enforcement

The National Building Code (NBC) 2016 lays down the basic framework for fire safety. Part 4 of the Code makes it mandatory for buildings that are 15 metres and above in height to obtain a fire safety No Objection Certificate (NOC), provided the building complies with fire safety standards and is used for commercial, educational, or healthcare purposes. The NBC, however, is recommendatory in nature and enforceable only through State bylaws.

This stands in contrast with the United Kingdom’s Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order of 2005, which is a legally binding national law in England and Wales. The UK Order requires continuous risk assessment and management, places accountability on an identified “Responsible Person,” and mandates enforcement by local fire and rescue services with regular fire safety assessments. Fire safety audits under the NBC, by comparison, are often non-mandatory or sporadic, and legal accountability varies according to State laws.

In August 2025, a fire at the Papikrung Government Residential School in Shi-Yomi district, Arunachal Pradesh, illustrated what weak enforcement looks like on the ground. An 8-year-old student, Tashi Jempen, died, and three others were severely burned when the boys’ hostel caught fire around 2 am. The district lacked a fire station; fire engines had to be brought from the Aalo region, roughly 215 km away. Rescue efforts by local residents and the Indian Army eventually evacuated students from the hostel.

According to Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2023–24 data, India has 14.72 lakh schools, with 3,17,061 located in 727 cities. In Delhi, roughly 35 per cent of the 1,928 schools either lack an NOC or have failed inspections. The NBC defines an NOC as a certification that a building meets “minimum standards for fire safety for buildings.” It is valid for three years for non-residential structures.

Krishnamoorthy questioned how 35 per cent of Delhi’s schools can function without fire safety provisions. “It is like a war—you don’t know when it will happen but you need to be prepared every day,” she said. She added that an NOC must mean the school is adequately equipped to handle a fire at any scale, and that “fire safety must be complied with in letter and spirit.” But she also alleged that the enforcement process itself is compromised. “NOCs are issued for a price by the fire department,” she said, adding that someone from the fire department had told her that “the rate of the NOCs has gone up in the past few years.”

The Central government launched a Rs.5,000 crore scheme in July 2023 to modernise State fire services. The scheme, drawn from the National Disaster Response Fund on the recommendation of the Fifteenth Finance Commission, distributes funds to States on a 75:25 cost-sharing basis. Lonkar said Union Territories do not receive a disbursement under this arrangement because fire safety is a State subject. Deputy Fire Service Chief AK Malik said Delhi, as a Union Territory, did not receive a share. Of Delhi’s 5,500 private and government-aided schools, only 3,572 hold an NOC.

Malik referenced a 2011 State circular and the 2009 Supreme Court judgment to note that schools are now excluded from the 15-metre height requirement for mandatory safety measures. “Every school must adhere to fire safety measures regardless of height or other dimensions,” he said.

A principal at a primary government school in Central Delhi said that funds are provided for fire safety measures during construction—double staircases, sand sacks, and water pumps. But she reported that while these are inspected for the NOC, failing to meet the requirements carries no penalty. “There are many unsafe buildings, and even without an NOC, they are still functioning as schools,” she said. Regular drills take place, and outside organisations are contacted to train staff in using safety equipment, but all of this, she added, is voluntary. In theory, a school without an NOC could face the inability to obtain board affiliation, potential closure, and legal action.

Ajay Jha, Director of Hollister Fire Services, said that schools install cylinders to meet government requirements for recognition but fail to maintain them, and staff often do not know how to use the equipment. “The school staff must be aware of the fire systems, be accustomed to it, maintain it, pressurise the cylinder regularly, and install smoke detectors rather than waiting for a hazard, which they most often do,” he said. Jha added that many schools have systems “on paper” that rarely work and that government agencies facilitate this by certifying compliance without reviewing whether the systems are functional. He estimated that a small school requires 25 cylinders, amounting to an annual maintenance cost of Rs.15,000. “There is no cost too big for life, and this is the bare minimum,” he said.

A parent whose child was studying in a school in Gurgaon that did not have an NOC told Frontline, “These are considerations no one looks into when going for admission. Everyone is concerned about academic success rate and pass percentage, but safety is ignored.” Krishnamoorthy urged parents to demand fire safety in schools. “We don’t want a situation when a child goes to study to a supposedly safe place and comes back in a body bag,” she said.

A student from a school in South-West Delhi said that a poster-making competition on fire safety and a demonstration on using the fire extinguisher were conducted during the Fire Service Week, but his school had only one fire extinguisher. The demonstration advised using the staircase instead of the elevator—which the school did not have—but the staircase was narrow and could not accommodate more than one child on each step at a time. “There is a single string of stairs running through the whole building with about 2,000 kids at a time. How will everyone evacuate?” he asked.

Compliance is thin

Delhi is not an isolated case. Following a January 2025 Karnataka High Court ruling, the State is auditing nearly 46,000 government schools. New mandates issued in January 2026 require specific equipment based on building size. Previous audits of 24,000 schools found missing exits, absent water tanks, and expired compliance reports. In Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court directed the State government to launch a public safety portal by October 2025. Despite requirements to submit safety certificates twice a year, only 58 out of 564 schools in Pimpri-Chinchwad were found to be compliant. Manipur has audited 3,728 buildings and provided staff training at the Fire Services Headquarters in Imphal.

Zeenat from Flying Fire Services said that most schools are not treating safety as a priority, though private institutions often show more initiative than government ones. “It should be necessary for students to know basic CPR and evacuation plans,” she said.

In September 2025, the Supreme Court ruled in JVRR Education Society vs State of Andhra Pradesh that the National Building Code (2016) does not require a fire safety NOC for educational buildings below 15 metres in height. The bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi was ruling on a criminal forgery case, not issuing a broader fire safety directive, but the clarification has had a bearing on how States interpret the 15-metre threshold. The Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services Act was amended to categorise buildings for licensing, and a similar draft amendment to the Telangana Fire Services Act, 1999, seeks to cover “small buildings” and make fire-related NOCs mandatory for all commercial and educational buildings regardless of height.

“We are not concerned with the height of the building. Irrespective of it, if there is a school, we must conduct safety exercises,” said Vatsa. He said the NDMA cannot mandate education but can work to inculcate a culture of safety. “Measures need to go beyond the fire extinguisher. The fire officer’s visit to the premises is required to point out routes for escape, convey how drills should be conducted every three months, and give measures beyond the basics,” he said.

Lonkar said the Centre has asked State fire services to set up “awareness cells”—dedicated teams tasked with conducting training in schools, malls, hospitals, and other crowded spaces. “Fire safety should be a thought in people’s conscious mind. Today people are least bothered about it,” he said. He added that mock drills are being conducted in schools and a manual on fire safety has been circulated for inclusion in the syllabus across States. But Lonkar was clear that the Centre is not moving towards a mandate. “Fire safety drills and measures are not a mandate because if you make it so, then licensing and much red tape will follow. We want to create awareness and initiative in society,” he said.

In Hyderabad, the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education denied affiliation to unaided junior colleges that failed to obtain a fire safety NOC. Of 1,200 junior colleges, only 247 secured affiliation. Following a direction that lowered the height requirement for mandatory compliance from 15 metres to six metres, many institutions now face pressure to update their infrastructure—installing external staircases, open spaces, and fire-fighting equipment.

In Gujarat, schools are petitioning against State rules requiring NOCs for buildings over nine metres, compared with the 15-metre national standard. Before the February 2026 board examinations, the State required all centres to verify functional fire systems. In 2024, Gujarat amended its rules to make Form-B13.3—the renewal of a fire safety NOC—valid for two years and required applications to be submitted two months before expiration. Following the fatal fire at a Rajkot gaming centre in May 2024, 110 schools in Ahmedabad were issued notices for lacking fire safety provisions. In rural Ahmedabad, 22 primary schools were fined Rs.10,000 each in April 2025 for operating without a valid NOC.

Security versus safety

There is also the question of whether safety protocols account for students with disabilities. Zeenat said that NDMA guidelines increasingly call for disaster management plans that include children with disabilities. But under the current voluntary framework, schools that lack auditory alarms for visually impaired students, or ramps and wider corridors for those with orthopaedic disabilities, face compounded risks during evacuations. Without specialised protocols or dedicated staff training for neurodivergent students, existing drills remain incomplete.

Former Director General of Indian Oil Corporation Chitrabhanu Bose argued for mandatory fire drill protocols. “Everything in our country needs a mandate,” he said. “Fire regulation should be the minimum criterion that must be followed.” He suggested integrating fire safety into social studies textbooks and noted that the rapid growth of educational institutions has led to buildings that “severely lack fire safety building design.”

Bose pointed to a tension between campus security and fire safety. In many urban schools, security takes the form of iron grills on windows and padlocked gates intended to prevent unauthorised entry or to monitor student movement. These measures, while serving a security function, can obstruct escape routes during a fire—turning school buildings into traps. This trade-off between keeping a building secure as opposed to safe, Bose said, remains one of the most critical and unaddressed contradictions in school infrastructure.

Lonkar said that fire casualties are most often caused by choking and toxic gas inhalation rather than by fire itself. “For prioritising life, evacuation routes and awareness about it is the most important in fire safety,” he said. “People are least bothered about signs directing them to the exit routes.” Krishnamoorthy made the same point in simpler terms. “It takes a few seconds to check if the exits are blocked or if the fire extinguishers are there, if they are expired,” she said.

Organisations such as Flying Fire Services conduct drills through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives or on request. “From reaction to escaping fire, everything should be taught in schools to students, teachers and even housekeeping staff,” said Zeenat.

Vatsa said children serve as messengers who can orient their entire families toward safety. Malik also said safety drills are a way to spread information through students. But Lonkar’s own position—that a mandate would invite “red tape”—captures the contradiction at the heart of India’s fire safety regime. Regulations exist on paper, but the officials tasked with enforcing them resist making compliance compulsory.

Aparna Vats is an intern with Frontline.

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