With the city police issuing an 11-point safety guidelines for schools on Saturday, managements of private schools say that the cost of transportation and school fees are likely to increase. They have threatened to stop their bus services if parents are unwillingly to bear the additional cost.
D. Shashi Kumar, organising secretary of Karnataka State Private Schools Managements’ Federation, said that the cost per head would increase drastically. “For each bus, we will have to spend around Rs. 30,000 to install CCTV cameras and GPS. Currently, parents of a child living within a 5-kilometre radius spend anywhere from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,500 per month. If all these safety guidelines are implemented, the cost per head will increase by at least Rs. 800 per month,” he said.
He said that the increase is inevitable as Supreme Court guidelines restrict the number of children travelling in the bus. “The owner of a school was telling me that the he will have to spend Rs. 40 lakh to implement these measures. At the same time, the Education Minister says that CCTV cameras cannot be installed in government schools due to economic reasons. Why is the government resorting to double standards?”
Regarding private cabs, Mr Kumar said that controlling drivers would not be possible for school managements.
He added that the August-end deadline stipulated by the police is not feasible for school managements.
