The students who were on a bus about to pick up more students and head off for a schools picnic in Friday were lucky. Their bus caught fire due to an electronic short circuit, filling the whole bus with smoke but no one got injured.
An alert brave heart teacher managed to let all the children off before she fainted due to the smoke, but she did her duty, till the fire tenders arrived.
This will soon go down as a ‘minor’ incident because no one died and the brave-heart teacher only went to the hospital for a few hours. And over time the questions that need to be asked will no longer be asked. As parents, as teachers, as administrators and also as government, we have all failed because quite simply the foolproof safety and security of our children isn’t top priority.
The school buses and other vans carrying children packed like sardines do not have fire extinguishers. School buses do not have first aid boxes and other equipment. Most buses do not have a trained guard present on the bus. A random check will reveal that most do even have first aid boxes. And a random check again should be done to check if the bus carrying school children which caught fire near the Panjim jetty, had a first aid box and a fire extinguisher. It is unlikely, since the fire was doused only after fire tenders reached the spot.
The issue is that incidents such as these are quickly forgotten and even inquiries are kept on the back burner. In February 2012, six passengers, including four schoolgirls, died in the tragic bus tragedy at the Carona-Calvim ferry wharf two years ago. A routine bus journey had ended in major tragedy when six persons, including four school children, died after the minibus plunged into the Mandovi River at Carona ferry wharf in Aldona on February 18, 2012.
It is critical that findings of inquiries ordered, after fire or similar incidents are not just made public but a social awareness campaign is conducted. We are not even counting other accidents in the three years where children have been victims. But a total turnaround is a process.
Firstly, the school buses or the vans need to be secure. All school buses and not some must be fitted with CCTV cameras. Sensitive NGOS, especially those working with children, should be engaged to work along these lines to ensure delivery. For this the traffic department, the district police, NGOs and people’s representatives should work jointly as stakeholders who will buy into the concept of proactive change.
This needs to be visible. It is now less about mechanisms that are already in place and more about educating schools managements and the principal.
And to start with massive passenger buses double up as school buses and ferry students. That has to stop. Next, the role of the school is very crucial as it needs to select its school buses and ensure compliance of all safety standards as they roll out of school. We simply cannot afford to lose children, who are supposed to be in a protective environment.
