Safety of school buses: ‘onus on parents too’

Eight vehicles have so far been seized by officials for failing to obtain Fitness Certificate. A representative from the parents and another from the school management, either teaching or non-teaching, should invariably accompany the students.

School bus mows down two children at Pattabhi Reddy Gardens; driver of school bus found drunk in a special drive...

Instances such as these agitate the parents and public alike. Authorities concerned and the government are blamed for their failure to rein in erring school managements. The anger of the parents and the public dies down after a couple of days, and the problem is back to square one. Transport authorities, traffic police, and government officials, no doubt, are duty bound to ensure road safety. But, parents and school managements cannot escape from their responsibility.

A representative from the parents and another from the school management, either teaching or non-teaching, should invariably accompany the students on their trip to the school and back home in the evening. This clause is embedded in the Motor Transport Rules.

“Whenever a school bus is involved in an accident, the transport officials are blamed. We conduct special drives on and off, but often find that there is no representative from the parents’ association or the school in the bus,” says Deputy Transport Commissioner M. Prabhu Raj Kumar.

“If there are 46 students in a bus, one of the parents should accompany them both in the morning to school and back home in the evening. His/her turn would come again only after more than 20 days. This is not to say that we will shirk our duty. We only appeal to the parents to own moral responsibility for the safety of their children,” he said.

“Members of the parents’ committee should also own responsibility. They have to inspect the buses and inform the principal if they find anything amiss. They can bring it to our notice if the principal fails to take action on their complaint,” Regional Transport Officer A.H. Khan said.

A total of eight school buses were seized by the Road Transport officials earlier this week for failure to obtain the mandatory Fitness Certificate (FC).

“There are 1,620 educational buses run by schools and colleges in the district. Of these 1,294 obtained FCs so far. Notices have been issued to those who have not obtained the FCs. They would be caught if found plying on the roads,” Mr. Raj Kumar added.