The Srinagar District Administration has directed schools to start following the Supreme Court guidelines on ferrying children in school vans. The Deputy Commissioner (Srinagar), Shahid Choudhary, said in a tweet that various incidents of school vans being overpopulated with children in contrast with the SC guidelines have been reported. The schools have been served a deadline of July 11 to following the instructions as laid down by the apex court.
"Mandatory for all Schools to have in place safety measures as laid down by the Supreme Court. Request parents to extend cooperation to schools for PTM. Defaulters to face action from July 11. No packing of kids in vans please," the DC Srinagar said.
The directive issued by Choudhary stated that despite various warnings being given to the school managements in the district for strict observance of the SC guidelines, a number of violations have been observed throughh photographs that showed overloading of school vans on social media. It said that the lives of many school children are being thus put at risk by non-compliance of the SC guidelines.
What are the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court on transporting children?
The guidelines issued by the court and the Union Transport Ministry are as follows:
a. School buses should be painted yellow.
b. School Bus must be written on the back and front of the bus. If it is a hired bus, "on School Duty" should be clearly indicated.
c. Bus should have a First Aid Box.
d. Bus should be fitted with speed governor of the specified standard.
e. The windows of Bus should be fitted with horizontal grills.
f. There should be a fire extinguisher in the Bus.
g. School Name and Telephone No. Must be written on the Bus.
h. The doors of the Bus should be fitted with reliable locks.
i. To keep the school bags safely, there should be a space fitted under the seats.
j. There must be a qualified attendant in the Bus to attend to Children.
k. Any parent or guardian sitting on the bus or a teacher may also travel to ensure these safety norms.
l. The driver should have at least 05 years of experience driving heavy vehicles.
m. A driver who has been challenged (fined) more than twice in a year for offences like red light jumping, violation of lane discipline of allowing an unauthorized person to drive cannot be employed.
n. A driver who has been challenged (fined) even once for the offence of over speeding, drunken driving and dangerous driving etc. cannot be employed.
