City police have urged parents to be aware of the details of van or cab drivers who are transporting their children to school. If necessary, they can approach the police to verify the antecedents of the driver, even if he is a native of another district in the State.
Following the kidnapping of a four-year-old student from Chettinad Vidyashram campus in R.A. Puram in August last year, the city police had pushed for enhanced security at schools. Security measures, including installation of CCTV cameras on campus, were recommended.
With schools scheduled to reopen in the first week of June, senior police officials are carrying out meetings with principals, correspondents and other representatives from various schools in the city.
On Friday, Joint Commissioner (West), K. Shanmugavel and his subordinates met close to 350 representatives from various schools in areas such as Pulianthope, Anna Nagar, Poonamallee, Ambattur and Avadi.
Apart from putting in place security measures for the safety of children, the attendees were advised to appoint a school security officer whose duty would be to monitor drivers, persons dropping and picking up children from the campus and ensure that other safety requirements are met.
Joint Commissioner (North) C. Sridhar interacted with over 106 representatives from various schools and colleges at the old commissionerate in Egmore on Saturday. Representatives of schools were advised to maintain a database with contact numbers of the officers and police stations near their institutions.
“Safety of children is paramount. Therefore, we are urging all institutions to put safety measures in place before the reopening day. Parents who are sceptical about the driver who is transporting their children can contact their respective police stations to check for any criminal records,” Mr. Sridhar added.
Schools have already been advised to carry out background checks on drivers and attenders dealing with children and mandatorily issue ID cards for them.
Checking in TambaramA total of 171 school buses were checked by transport department officials with the help of School Education, Police and Revenue department officials in areas under the jurisdiction of Tambaram and Meenambakkam Regional Transport Officers.
On Saturday, 30 vehicles in Meenambakkam and 141 in Tambaram limits were checked by the officials. The remaining will be checked on Tuesday.
RTOs in Sholinganallur and Kundrathur will conduct the checks on Tuesday, the sources added.
