Apex court norms for school buses not being followed

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 6

The yesterday’s road mishap, wherein a nine-year old school girl died and four students and teachers sustained injuries, is a grim reminder of the vulnerability of school transport in the border district.

In 2016, seven children were killed in a similar incident in which a school bus met with an accident near Mahawa village. Such incidents expose the lack of safety measures to ensure safe transportation of school children.

The Supreme Court has ordered the implementation of the Safe School Vahan policy to ensure safety of school children. But the only condition which private school buses have complied with is to paint their vehicles with yellow colour. The school bus, involved in the mishap Tuesday’s mishap, did not have any attendant and was being “rashly” driven on a narrow road.

As per the guidelines under the Safe School Vahan policy, school buses are required to have iron grills fitted on their windows. The buses are also required to have hydraulic doors besides two CCTV cameras, one each at the front and the rear. Female attendants should also be there. The policy also makes it mandatory for school buses to have speed governors, stop signal arm, retracting steps and fire extinguishers.

The regional transport office (RTO) had initiated a campaign to make private schools comply with the guidelines but its efforts failed to yield any results.

One of the reasons could be that private schools are the biggest suppliers of buses to political parties during their rallies. Owners and management of many charity-run schools are associated with political parties so the transport office has, so far, failed to ensure that the guidelines of the policy are implemented in the true spirit.

The rules

• School buses are required to have iron grills fitted on their windows.
• The buses are also required to have hydraulic doors besides two CCTV cameras, one each at the front and the rear.  
• The policy also makes it mandatory for school buses to have speed governors, stop signal arm, retracting steps and fire extinguishers.