<p>Ensuring children’s safety while they travel to school and return home is often a difficult task. Not that there are no efforts to this end. <br /><br /></p>.<p>But, the lack of a viable solution acceptable to all stakeholders, especially parents and school managements, is the chief reason for the apparent failure of all the efforts. <br /><br />Most children in private schools travel by private vehicles — school buses/vans, autorickshaws, parents’ vehicles, et al. While some others take BMTC buses, those living nearby simply walk to school. Children in government schools mostly walk the distance and some of them ride a bicycles. <br /><br />Children, however, face problems whichever mode of transport they take. Private buses/vans are driven by negligent drivers, autos are overcrowded, and parents struggle to find parking space near schools. Bus stops are far from school and walking on busy roads can be too dangerous. <br /><br />The fact that many popular schools are located in densely populated localities makes matters worse. The issue is multi-layered. For parents, safety does not just mean that their children travel or walk to school without meeting with an accident. They must also not face any harassment, sexual or otherwise, parents assert. <br /><br />That explains parents’ constant opposition to attempts by the traffic police to tell them which is the safest way for their wards to reach school and return home. Only they know what is safe for their wards, parents argue. <br /><br />The ‘Safe Road To School’ (SRTS) campaign launched by the traffic police in 16 schools in 2005 almost came a cropper precisely because most parents were not quite happy with the solution it offered: don’t ferry children in private vehicles; use BMTC buses or pool cars instead.<br /><br />BMTC buses were projected as “an efficient, safe and affordable” mode of transport. But parents were not impressed. A survey conducted for the campaign showed that only 33 BMTC buses were used for school duty in the jurisdiction of 21 traffic police stations, as against 1,071 private school vans and 502 school buses. <br /><br />The campaign, however, managed to implement two of its other proposals: segregation of school timings and a ban on vehicle parking within 200 metres from schools. Most schools now function from 8.30 am to 3.30 pm. The ban on parking is still in force.<br /><br /> But the campaign failed in its most ambitious solution, M A Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security), admits. It was he who had launched the campaign in his capacity as the DCP (Traffic-East). <br /><br />He says the campaign is still on and will be implemented in 93 schools this academic year. <br /><br />But parents’ opposition might make it futile. “Parents are still unimpressed with the feasibility of BMTC buses or pooled cars. We will try again to convince them,” Saleem told Deccan Herald. <br /><br />The traffic police held a meeting with school principals in May this year. Another meeting is scheduled for July. Until then, the issue would remain in the cold storage, Saleem said, adding that the traffic police had more important things to do at present. Still, police want to make up for their hard-pressed time and resources. <br /><br />They are currently penalising auto drivers ferrying more than six schoolchildren. As many as 3,042 such cases were booked in 2011. In the first six months of 2012, 1,537 cases have been booked. Saleem says autos were being monitored strictly. <br /><br />The existence of laws and regulations on schoolchildren’s safety has been of little help. The worry, however, is the lack of their effective implementation. Regular monitoring of school vans is still missing. The Transport Department would swing into action only when a tragedy strikes. <br /><br />Like it did when Abhilash, a 13-year-old schoolboy, was killed when his school bus rammed a tree and rolled on its side down the road near Attibele on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border in December 2010. The laxity reappeared as soon as the incident faded from public memory. <br /><br />The other dimension of the debate is that the safety of children who walk to school has been mostly ignored. Walking on Bangalore’s narrow and choked roads is very risky. <br /><br />B Kishore Kumar, student of a government school, was killed when a vehicle mowed him down on Hosur Road when he was returning home from school on January 28, 2011. There is no specific programme to ensure the safety of such students, Saleem admits. <br /><br />On its part, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) says it has little role to play in children’s safety. “It’s not in our domain. We deal only with what happens inside the school,” A Devaprakash, Director of Primary Education, says. <br /><br />Still, the DPI joined hands with the traffic police for the SRTS campaign. <br />Parents agree that private vehicles, especially autorickshaws and vans, were unsafe for their wards. Accidents would occur anytime. Yet, using BMTC buses or pooled cars is hardly any better, parents feel. The solution has other flaws also.<br /><br /> BMTC buses would not always drop the children near the school. Children would have to walk to school, often all alone. <br /><br />Their safety in the buses was another thing that worried parents. “Would my child be safe in the bus? What if the man at the wheel drives rashly? What if other children bully my child?” These are the things parents are never convinced about. In short, children’s safety while they travel to school is still a concern. Do we require another accident to wake from the slumber? One hopes not. <br /><br /> Supreme Court guidlines<br /><br />* ‘School Bus’ must be prominently written/displayed on the front and back of every vehicle carrying school children<br />* If the vehicle is a hired bus, ‘On school duty’ should be prominently <br />displayed<br />* No bus belonging to an educational institution should carry children in excess of its permitted seating capacity<br />* School bus must have a first aid box<br />* Windows of the school bus must be fitted with horizontal grills/bars<br />* Every school bus needs to be equipped with fire extinguisher<br />* Every driver of a school bus must have a minimum of five years of experience in driving heavy vehicles and must not have any previous record of traffic offences<br />* In addition to driver, there must be a qualified person in every school bus as provided in Rule 17 of Motor Vehicles Rules<br />* There should be an escort from the school, preferably a teacher, in the bus to ensure safety<br /><br />Central Mall Junction in Jayanagar could well do with a signal and a few <br />policemen during rush hours. Even though our school is in a bylane, the safety of kids is at risk as drivers are negligent. <br /><br /><em>Shivashankar Principal, Nalanda English School, JP Nagar</em><br /><br /> Tragedies<br /><br />* January 2011: A spastic student and the driver of the school van were injured after their vehicle collided with a truck in <br />Kumaraswamy Layout<br />* January 2011: A seven-year-old student of a government school and resident of Priyanka Layout, Kishore Kumar died when a school van of Sujatha School hit him on Hosur Road when he was returning home<br />* June 2011: A mini tempo carrying 22 students to Doddaballapur town fell into a roadside ditch at Kolur; 12 kids were injured<br />* December 2010: Abhilash, 13, was killed and 15 other students were injured when a mini school bus rammed into a tree near Tindlu Gate and rolled on its side down the road. The bus belonged to St Philomena's High School on Attibele Main Road<br />* December 2006: Twenty-eight people, including children, were injured when a school van overturned near Kengeri bus depot on Mysore Road. The children from Malur in Kolar district were on an excursion to Mysore</p>
<p>Ensuring children’s safety while they travel to school and return home is often a difficult task. Not that there are no efforts to this end. <br /><br /></p>.<p>But, the lack of a viable solution acceptable to all stakeholders, especially parents and school managements, is the chief reason for the apparent failure of all the efforts. <br /><br />Most children in private schools travel by private vehicles — school buses/vans, autorickshaws, parents’ vehicles, et al. While some others take BMTC buses, those living nearby simply walk to school. Children in government schools mostly walk the distance and some of them ride a bicycles. <br /><br />Children, however, face problems whichever mode of transport they take. Private buses/vans are driven by negligent drivers, autos are overcrowded, and parents struggle to find parking space near schools. Bus stops are far from school and walking on busy roads can be too dangerous. <br /><br />The fact that many popular schools are located in densely populated localities makes matters worse. The issue is multi-layered. For parents, safety does not just mean that their children travel or walk to school without meeting with an accident. They must also not face any harassment, sexual or otherwise, parents assert. <br /><br />That explains parents’ constant opposition to attempts by the traffic police to tell them which is the safest way for their wards to reach school and return home. Only they know what is safe for their wards, parents argue. <br /><br />The ‘Safe Road To School’ (SRTS) campaign launched by the traffic police in 16 schools in 2005 almost came a cropper precisely because most parents were not quite happy with the solution it offered: don’t ferry children in private vehicles; use BMTC buses or pool cars instead.<br /><br />BMTC buses were projected as “an efficient, safe and affordable” mode of transport. But parents were not impressed. A survey conducted for the campaign showed that only 33 BMTC buses were used for school duty in the jurisdiction of 21 traffic police stations, as against 1,071 private school vans and 502 school buses. <br /><br />The campaign, however, managed to implement two of its other proposals: segregation of school timings and a ban on vehicle parking within 200 metres from schools. Most schools now function from 8.30 am to 3.30 pm. The ban on parking is still in force.<br /><br /> But the campaign failed in its most ambitious solution, M A Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security), admits. It was he who had launched the campaign in his capacity as the DCP (Traffic-East). <br /><br />He says the campaign is still on and will be implemented in 93 schools this academic year. <br /><br />But parents’ opposition might make it futile. “Parents are still unimpressed with the feasibility of BMTC buses or pooled cars. We will try again to convince them,” Saleem told Deccan Herald. <br /><br />The traffic police held a meeting with school principals in May this year. Another meeting is scheduled for July. Until then, the issue would remain in the cold storage, Saleem said, adding that the traffic police had more important things to do at present. Still, police want to make up for their hard-pressed time and resources. <br /><br />They are currently penalising auto drivers ferrying more than six schoolchildren. As many as 3,042 such cases were booked in 2011. In the first six months of 2012, 1,537 cases have been booked. Saleem says autos were being monitored strictly. <br /><br />The existence of laws and regulations on schoolchildren’s safety has been of little help. The worry, however, is the lack of their effective implementation. Regular monitoring of school vans is still missing. The Transport Department would swing into action only when a tragedy strikes. <br /><br />Like it did when Abhilash, a 13-year-old schoolboy, was killed when his school bus rammed a tree and rolled on its side down the road near Attibele on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border in December 2010. The laxity reappeared as soon as the incident faded from public memory. <br /><br />The other dimension of the debate is that the safety of children who walk to school has been mostly ignored. Walking on Bangalore’s narrow and choked roads is very risky. <br /><br />B Kishore Kumar, student of a government school, was killed when a vehicle mowed him down on Hosur Road when he was returning home from school on January 28, 2011. There is no specific programme to ensure the safety of such students, Saleem admits. <br /><br />On its part, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) says it has little role to play in children’s safety. “It’s not in our domain. We deal only with what happens inside the school,” A Devaprakash, Director of Primary Education, says. <br /><br />Still, the DPI joined hands with the traffic police for the SRTS campaign. <br />Parents agree that private vehicles, especially autorickshaws and vans, were unsafe for their wards. Accidents would occur anytime. Yet, using BMTC buses or pooled cars is hardly any better, parents feel. The solution has other flaws also.<br /><br /> BMTC buses would not always drop the children near the school. Children would have to walk to school, often all alone. <br /><br />Their safety in the buses was another thing that worried parents. “Would my child be safe in the bus? What if the man at the wheel drives rashly? What if other children bully my child?” These are the things parents are never convinced about. In short, children’s safety while they travel to school is still a concern. Do we require another accident to wake from the slumber? One hopes not. <br /><br /> Supreme Court guidlines<br /><br />* ‘School Bus’ must be prominently written/displayed on the front and back of every vehicle carrying school children<br />* If the vehicle is a hired bus, ‘On school duty’ should be prominently <br />displayed<br />* No bus belonging to an educational institution should carry children in excess of its permitted seating capacity<br />* School bus must have a first aid box<br />* Windows of the school bus must be fitted with horizontal grills/bars<br />* Every school bus needs to be equipped with fire extinguisher<br />* Every driver of a school bus must have a minimum of five years of experience in driving heavy vehicles and must not have any previous record of traffic offences<br />* In addition to driver, there must be a qualified person in every school bus as provided in Rule 17 of Motor Vehicles Rules<br />* There should be an escort from the school, preferably a teacher, in the bus to ensure safety<br /><br />Central Mall Junction in Jayanagar could well do with a signal and a few <br />policemen during rush hours. Even though our school is in a bylane, the safety of kids is at risk as drivers are negligent. <br /><br /><em>Shivashankar Principal, Nalanda English School, JP Nagar</em><br /><br /> Tragedies<br /><br />* January 2011: A spastic student and the driver of the school van were injured after their vehicle collided with a truck in <br />Kumaraswamy Layout<br />* January 2011: A seven-year-old student of a government school and resident of Priyanka Layout, Kishore Kumar died when a school van of Sujatha School hit him on Hosur Road when he was returning home<br />* June 2011: A mini tempo carrying 22 students to Doddaballapur town fell into a roadside ditch at Kolur; 12 kids were injured<br />* December 2010: Abhilash, 13, was killed and 15 other students were injured when a mini school bus rammed into a tree near Tindlu Gate and rolled on its side down the road. The bus belonged to St Philomena's High School on Attibele Main Road<br />* December 2006: Twenty-eight people, including children, were injured when a school van overturned near Kengeri bus depot on Mysore Road. The children from Malur in Kolar district were on an excursion to Mysore</p>
