Four teams formed to keep a check on school buses

A day after a four-year-old LKG student was allegedly run over by his school van while he was getting off near his home in Shikohpur in Kherki Daula area, the district administration formed four teams to check if school buses ferrying students are following the norms listed under the Surakshit School Vahan policy and warned of taking strict action against those schools found violating the transport safety norms

A day after a four-year-old LKG student was allegedly run over by his school van while he was getting off near his home in Shikohpur in Kherki Daula area, the district administration formed four teams to check if school buses ferrying students are following the norms listed under the Surakshit School Vahan policy and warned of taking strict action against those schools found violating the transport safety norms.

A four-year-old LKG student was allegedly run over by his school van while he was getting off near his home in Shikohpur in Kherki Daula area on Monday. (Representative photo/Shutterstock)

The decision was taken as this is the second time this month that a school vehicle has allegedly been found negligent in handling children.

The Haryana government formulated the ‘Surakshit School Vahan’ policy to ensure safer transportation of school going children in the state. According to the guidelines listed under the policy, the school buses/vehicles should be painted in yellow with a wide strip of dark blue going all around the body; the words ‘school bus’ should be written in the front or rear of the bus; the school bus/vehicle driver must have at least five years of driving experience and not be challaned for more than three times for traffic violations; the school bus/vehicle should not be exceed the speed limit of 50kmph in any part of the city; the telephone number of the owner of the bus/vehicle and police control room should be displayed inside the bus; the school bus must have a conductor/attendant who should be adequately trained to handle young children, among other such factors.

Deputy commissioner of Gurugram Nishant Kumar Yadav on Tuesday formed four teams headed by a sub-divisional magistrate, a traffic official, a road safety officer(RSO) and an official from the Road Transport Authority (RTA), which will check school buses and ensure the school is training its drivers. “The teams have been directed to hold a meeting with school representatives and ask them to ensure rules pertaining to school buses are adhered strictly,” he said.

Yadav said they will also organise a seminar of all the private schools within 10 days to apprise them of the guidelines listed under the Surakshit School Vahan policy. He added extensive inspection drives will be conducted to check if children are travelling safely in school buses.

Yadav said a 27-point performa will be used by drivers to check whether the vehicles used for transporting school children meet the required norms and standards. “We will handover copies of Surakshit Vahan policy to representatives of all the schools and give them forms listing 27 mandatory points that drivers need to check. The RTA will conduct surprise checks and penalise drivers who are found violating rules,” he said.

There are nearly 400 schools across the city, which have about 2,000 vehicles for transporting children, said officials.

Ravinder Yadav, secretary of RTA, Gurugram said they will start checking drives during pick up or drop off of school children from Wednesday. “The norms listed under the Surakshit School Vahan policy makes it compulsory for drivers to be in uniform while on duty, display relevant numbers on the exterior of the vehicle, CCTV cameras with over two weeks of storage capacity and ensure the presence of women conductors in school buses,” said Yadav.

Traffic police officers also directed the school authorities to tell the drivers to drive safely and not exceed the speed limit. “All the schools will be directed to ensure drivers park and stop vehicles at designated bus stops. Any driver found parking in the middle of the road will be penalised. We have formed special teams across the city to keep a vigil on school buses,” said Ravinder Singh Tomar, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

On April 12, a boy had got off his school bus near Rajiv Chowk by mistake and lost his way home. The traffic police deployed at the spot helped him return home. “This was a case of negligence on the part of the school bus driver, who did not even check the boy’s drop destination. He could have gone missing or landed in wrong hands,” said the DCP.

Commissioner of Gurugram police Kala Ramachandran said, “I have requested deputy commissioner to ask sub-divisional magistrate to call all schools and ask them to strictly follow guidelines concerning transportation of school children.”

Meanwhile, the police registered a case against the school management and the bus driver, who allegedly ran over the LKG boy while he was alighting from the vehicle on Monday, under Section 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 279 (rash driving) of the IPC. No arrests have been made so far in the case.

The body of the boy was handed over to the family members on Tuesday, said police.

Gulshan Singh, father of the deceased, said, “The school management left children in the bus without anyone monitoring them. I lost my son due to their negligence and of the driver. My son had hardly gone to school due to Covid and was so excited to attend his classes. I wish I had not given the consent for offline classes.”

The boy’s uncle, Bijendra Singha, said, “My nephew returned home from school everyday by 1:30pm. We heard a loud cry on Monday afternoon and when we rushed outside, I found my nephew in an unconscious state... We took him to a hospital, but he did not get proper treatment. The schools should ensure safety of children and depute a helper in buses and vans so that such incidents are not repeated in future.”

Rishal Singh, the boy’s grandfather, said he would follow up the case to ensure all the people responsible for the mishap are punished. “The school has not been following any of the norms prescribed by the state government. The van was not painted yellow, school numbers were not mentioned in the front and rear and windows did not have grills. The driver did not even stop to help us to take him to the hospital... The school should take responsibility for his death,” he said.

Officials from the school administration could not be reached for comments.