The State Education Department has officially issued a set of directions to all the schools in Goa on school bus safety. The directions are clear and state that all schools providing the school bus services for students must give priority to the safety of students in the buses. However, it appears that a few days after strict enforcement, a situation where children are put at risk when school buses violate these rules has begun all over again.
On Wednesday, at around 10am, Herald noticed that a school bus from Vasco which provides transport services to a Chicalim based school was ferrying students to their homes without a conductor or an attendant present in the bus. The driver was negotiating the narrow turns at Baina while the students were busy doing what they wanted to do unsupervised. The children proceeded to stick their heads out of the window and even attempted to pluck fruit, flowers and leaves from the trees drooping dangerously close to the road as the bus proceeded on the road. This could prove very dangerous for the students.
After following the bus for some time, Herald also found out that a student was seen performing the duties of the conductor i.e opening the doors to let students off.
In October last year, the High Court of Bombay at Goa took suo moto public interest litigation and issued directions to enable the safety of school children. A bench of justices, F M Reis and K L Wadane felt that interim measures have to be implemented so that the law is followed when children are transported to and from schools.
Soon after the HC gave directions, the state administration swung into action and laid emphasis on ensuring the safety of children. However, within five months’ time, all these regulations fell flat. Police and other concerned authorities failed to keep a regular check on school buses ferrying children.
The matter was a serious one and needed immediate attention. Hence, Herald showed a video grab of the negligence of the concerned school bus operator to the deputy collector of Mormugao Sachin Rana, Chief Officer of the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC), Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida and other authorities from Mormugao. Every one of them raised their eyebrows over the negligence shown by the bus operator.
“School buses need to be safe and secure for students. Students cannot be given a free hand like that and should be monitored. The video shown by Herald shows how dangerous it can be for not only the students but passersby as well as they could get startled and skid off the road. Such issues should be taken care of and I will look into this. The bus carrying the students didn’t have any number of any individual who could be contacted if the bus was plying without a supervisor,” said Deputy Collector, Sachin Rana. He added that he would call the bus driver and question him over the lack of safety. He also said that a note would be sent to all schools regarding this incident and will make sure that the event won’t be repeated.
Deepali Naik, Chief Officer of the MMC said, “It is very dangerous for students. There are standing instructions for monitoring school buses and these weren’t followed. Surely we will take up this issue with the concerned school and notices to the bus owner and the school will be issued. The lives of our children are more important and we need to keep an eye out.”
Carlos Almeida was in shock when he saw the video and said, “What the students in the bus were doing is very dangerous to their lives. I will call the police inspector of the traffic cell immediately and tell him to meet school headmasters and give them instructions in writing to inform school bus drivers to ensure the complete safety of children. Such things cannot be tolerated and need to be dealt with strictly.”
This will, hopefully be an eye opener for the concerned authorities and there needs to be constant monitoring on these aspects. It mustn’t be just a periodic exercise. It is high time schools everywhere take note of safety instructions and adhere to them. There should be no scope for negligence as there won’t be any use for safety regulations after an untoward incident has occurred.
