Safety of girl students compromised in city, P’kula

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 14

A day after the molestation incident, buses associated with almost every school in the city were seen without female attendants today.

Women teachers were seen travelling by a few school buses in the morning and after school hours. They were also seen helping students board the buses. But they were not on board till the last student was dropped at his/her place in the afternoon.

A survey by The Tribune in Sectors 31, 32, 33, 34 35, 36, 37, 38, 24, 23, 22, 19, 27, 7, 26 and Mani Majra revealed that the buses were jam-packed with students. The vehicles were having conductors and a majority of them were youths. Not a single bus in the city was seen having woman attendants and conductors, except for those of Carmel Convent School.

School bus conductors were seen lifting small kids carrying heavy school bags on their back to help them alight from the bus at their respective stops.

Almost all of the school buses on the city roads were found to be ill-equipped and did not have CCTVs and GPS facility. The bus crew members were neither wearing the uniform nor their name plates.

Couple of exceptions

Kavita C Dass, Principal, St. John’s High School, Sector 26, said the school has gone well beyond the normal measures for the safety of its students. It was the first school to install CCTVs and GPS in its buses. All drivers and conductors have undergone police verification checks.

Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, has already hired woman conductors while Gurukul Global School, Mani Majra, has installed CCTVs in its buses.

School bus operators to meet today

Chandigarh School Buses Operator Welfare Association will hold a meeting of its members on Friday to discuss deployment of additional staff (female conductors and attendants) on their school buses. Manjit Singh, president of the association, said the members would discuss the issues relating to the salaries of additional staff and operational costs of GPS and CCTV facilities on the buses. He added that the facilities would raise the transportation fee.

‘Admn ignored my letter on safety of students’

Ajay Jagga, a city-based advocate has written to UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev and IGP RP Upadhayay alleging that the Administration had ignored his letter on safety and security of girl students travelling by school buses. He claimed to have written to the UT Administrator in October, 2104, seeking issuance of guidelines to schools for protection of children, especially girls, while referring to the incident where a six-year-old was violated by a school teacher in Bangalore.

Will equip our buses with GPS, CCTV: ISA

• Members of the Independent School Association (ISA) have decided to install GPS (global positioning system) to track buses associated with their schools.
• Association president HS Mamik claimed that they have decided to appoint female conductors and attendants apart from introducing GPS and CCTV facilities on school buses. “The association will ensure that the decision is implemented by July,” he said. However, Mamik hinted that the cost of transportation would increase with the introduction of the facilities.

Vehicle-tracking system on buses on the cards: DC

The UT Administration is working towards installing GPS-based vehicle-tracking system on school buses as well as those for the general public to ensure safety and security of school students.

— Dr. SB Deepak Kumar, deputy commissioner