The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Move to ensure safety of students

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Sunday, Jun 28, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Move to ensure safety of students

Staff Reporter

Schools not complying with safety norms will face action

— Photo: S.S. KUMAR

AWARENESS MATTERS: Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M. Shakeel Akhter interacts with teachers in charge of RSP teams in Chennai recently.

CHENNAI: The Chennai City Traffic Police will come down heavily on schools that fail to comply with safety norms while transporting students, from July 1.

The institutions will be responsible for their vehicles as well as private vehicles engaged by them for students. “We have sent letters to all the city schools, urging them to ensure that all safety norms are met,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M. Shakeel Akhter.

Speaking to The Hindu, he said schools would have to ensure that only buses and vans painted yellow are used to transport students, that the drivers have at least 10 years’ work experience, that every vehicle has an attender and that autorickshaws and vans do not carry more children than the prescribed capacity.

Last year, the Home Department issued a notification urging educational institutions to go for a uniform colour code for vehicles transporting students. The department prescribed yellow for all vans and buses operated by the institutions. The vehicles were also required to have the inscription ‘School Bus’ or ‘College Bus’ painted in the front and rear, in bold letters.

The rule is applicable to buses and vans owned by institutions and should also be followed while engaging private vans or buses. A good number of schools in the city engage such private vehicles for reasons such as lack of parking space on campuses.

On Thursday, Mr. Akhter addressed teachers who are in charge of Road Safety Patrol teams in different schools at a training programme.

He said the target of the traffic police was to increase the number of Road Safety Patrol volunteers from the present 10,000 to 30,000 by December. “We want RSP volunteers to participate in traffic regulation work near their respective schools. Traffic police and members of the Tamil Nadu Traffic Wardens’ Organisation will impart training on traffic signs, signals and road safety aspects to the teachers and students.”

Mr. Akhter said that RSP programme was part of the extra-curricular activities of students. These volunteers would also take part in various awareness campaigns, he added.

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