Schools protest govt's bus order

Schools are up in arms over a Delhi government order directing them to disclose routes of their buses and the names of the students travelling on them. HT reports.

Schools are up in arms over a Delhi government order directing them to disclose routes of their buses and the names of the students travelling on them.

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The protests by the schools come a day after the government directed them to submit details of the routes and the names of students to the traffic police, transport department and the directorate of education.

The schools claimed the move will compromise the security of the students and lead to more paperwork.

"It is ridiculous to expect the schools to disclose the list of students travelling by buses and the bus-stops where they
will get down. This kind of information doesn't serve any purpose and it will unnecessarily increase the documentation work that schools need to do, since we are already bogged down by a lot of paperwork," said Ameeta Wattal, vice-chairperson, National Progressive School Conference (NPSC), which has 110 private schools as members.

The Delhi government, while asking for the details, also directed the schools to appoint conductors with a valid licences and in-charges to monitor bus fleets.

This, the schools said, would unnecessarily add to the teachers' workload.

"Where does one find a conductor with a valid licence? It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the conductors have licences. It is also ridiculous to expect in-charges or teachers to man these buses. Unless the government can take care of their conveyance after a whole day's work, they shouldn't expect such things. Instead, the bus conductor can take a roll call to keep track," Wattal added.

Some other schools also added that the disclosing names of children and bus-stops would pose a security threat to the students.

"Providing a list of students and the bus-stops is a risky proposition. How do we know who handles this information? In case of providing licenced conductors, there needs to be more clarity from the Delhi government instead of randomly asking for information," said MI Husain, principal, Delhi Public School (Mathura Road).