Drivers without licence, no fire extinguishers or first aid boxes and no list of students in school buses make safety of students a big, big concern in the city
Last Friday 30 students of Tapovan School had a narrow escape when their school bus suddenly caught fire. A fire official found short-circuit as the primary cause of the fire. A major tragedy was averted, but the incident caused panic among parents and raised questions about safety of students in school buses. The Supreme Court has clearly set guidelines for safety of students in school buses. However, a Mirror check of 11 school buses along with traffic officials across the city revealed shocking details.
Of the 11 drivers, only two had licences with them, while one was driving on a Learner’s Licence that was created just three days ago. Nine buses did not have fire extinguishers, one of the remaining two had expired four days ago and the other was totally rusted. Nine buses had no first aid boxes, while one had an antiseptic bottle that was empty and the other had few medicines. Only one of the 11 buses had list of the students travelling in them.
SC guidelines for school buses
1 `School Bus’ must be written on the back and front of the bus.
2 If it is hired bus, `On School Duty’ should be clearly indicated.
3 Bus must have a First Aid box.
4 The windows of bus must be fitted with horizontal grills.
5 There must be a fire extinguisher in the bus.
6 School name and telephone number must be written on the bus.
7 The doors of the bus should be fitted with reliable locks.
8 To keep school bags safely, there should be a space fitted under the seats.
9 There must be an attendant from the school in the bus.
10 School cabs should be fitted with speed governors with maximum speed limit of 40 kmph.
11 The body of school bus shall be highway yellow colour with a horizontal strip in green of 150mm width in the middle all around the vehicle and the words `School Cab’ must be prominently displayed on all four sides of the vehicle.
12 If age of school children is below 12 years, the number of children shall not exceed 11.2 times the permitted seating capacity.
13 Children above 12 years shall be treated as one person.
14 The driver of a school cab must have valid licence to drive LMV-Transport Vehicles for a period of at least four years and compulsorily wear a light blue shirt, light blue trousers and black shoes.
His name ID should be displayed on the shirt.
15 There must be enough space provided to keep school bags inside the vehicle and the bags should not be hung outside the vehicle or placed on roof carriers.
16 The bus driver must carry a complete list of the children being ferried in the school cab, indicating the name, class, residential address, blood group and the points of stoppage, route, plan etc.
17 In case of kindergarten, if an authorised person recognised mutually by the school and parents, does not come to pick the child from the halting points and such, the child shall be taken back to the school and their parents should be called.
Source – Ahmedabad Mirror – 21st December 2016
