Uttarakhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Yogendra Khanduri has written a letter to the chief secretary, expressing concern over most of the private schools not implementing the Supreme Court’s order on providing safe transport facilities to their enrolled students. Safety and security of the students are not being taken into consideration by the private schools of the State, he wrote, adding that the buses being provided by the school managements to transport students to the schools and back home are dangerous for them.
NCPCR has sought reports on 56 points regarding safety of the students of the private schools. On the aforesaid issue, the State commission had conducted survey in 20 private schools located in Garhwal and Kumaon divisions of the state. The transport facilities of 10 such schools each from Garhwal and Kumaon divisions had been reviewed in course of the survey and they were founding wanting.
The survey revealed that the school managements are hiring vehicles from outside and the drivers’ and the conductors’ antecedents are not being given to the police to verify. The hired vehicles have nothing to show that they are transporting students of particular schools. The buses do not display the drivers’ names and batch numbers, telephone numbers of the bus owners and the transport department’s helpline. Speed governors have not been installed and nor the buses have first aid boxes and fire safety equipments. GPS and CCTV cameras are also non-existent. Bus conductors have no valid license and there is no lady conductor and guard posted in such vehicles. There is no teacher deputed in such buses to monitor things. They do not have drinking water facility and the drivers do not wear uniform. Such buses are bereft of siren and alarm bell. No refresher training course is being provided to the drivers. There is no proper arrangement for keeping the school bags of the students. Some of the vehicles do not have valid permit. No medical check up of the drivers is conducted. Most of the schools do not have parking arrangements. Some drivers have been found driving buses despite police having slapped challans on them.