Depute guards, install CCTVs in buses: CBSE issues fresh guidelines for schools

CBSE asked authorities to fortify security on school buses and holding the management and head of the institutions responsible for any lapse, which could lead to cancellation of affiliation.

All schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will now have to depute guards on school buses and fit the vehicles with closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs), GPS systems, sirens and grilles on windows.

All schools affiliated to the CBSE will now have to depute guards on school buses and fit the vehicles with CCTVs.(HT File Photo)

Additionally, such school buses would need to have one “well-trained lady attendant” and, if possible, a parent overseeing the driver and conductor.

India’s largest board revised guidelines on Thursday, asking authorities to fortify security on school buses and holding the management and head of the institutions responsible for any lapse, which could lead to cancellation of affiliation.

According to officials, the guidelines were issued on the directions of human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar after a school bus accident in Uttar Pradesh in January that killed 12 schoolchildren.

The circular is applicable for all 18,000 CBSE-affiliated schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas.

“The windows of the bus should be fitted with horizontal grills with mesh wire. The school buses should be fitted with speed governors with max speed limit of 40 km/h. GPS and CCTV arrangement should be made compulsorily in each school bus and is in working condition at all the time,” reads the circular.

School buses will have to be fitted with alarm bell and siren and the vehicles cannot have curtains or films on the windows. “The school authorities are also directed to voluntarily evolve an arrangement, that in each school bus at least one parent should be present who can oversee the conduct of the driver and the other staff present in the bus”.

For security of the students, a transport manager will have to be designated inside the bus.

A driver who has been fined more than twice in a year for any kind of offence cannot be employed by school authorities. A driver who has been fined even once for over speeding, rash driving cannot be hired too. “School bus drivers are restricted from having interaction with the students and bus staff beyond a limit,” states the circular.

Schools will also have to provide one mobile phone inside the bus which can be used during an emergency. Students will be asked to give their feedback on the transport facility, especially about the driver and the conductor.

CBSE officials said the circular has been issued after taking into account the order of the Supreme Court , Motor Vehicle Act, and directives of the state governments.

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