In a bid to ensure safety of children while commuting to and fro from the school, Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR) is all set to take action against such schools which do not follow the prescribed norms for school buses.

Chairperson of JSCPCR, Arti Kujur said, “We have been getting a number of complaints from parents regarding school buses not following the norms. Some of the most common being overloading of buses and not having emergency numbers written on the buses. With such cases being high, the commission has decided to work along with district administration to crack a whip on such rule violators.”

A major concern of the commission is lack of police verification of drivers and conductors of the buses. “This is a major concern as we cannot leave our children in the hands of someone who can be a probable criminal. Despite being directed several times by the district administration, many schools have not got the verification done. We have come across some cases where a driver, who led to a bus accident while drunk driving was fired from one school and he joined in at other school,” Kujur said.

Overloading in buses still remains a problem despite there being directions from the district transport office several times to ensure that every child gets a seat. Another major concern for JSCPCR is when schools do not provide a mode of commutation at all.

“We have some cases where schools do not provide buses and parents are forced to book vehicles like auto rickshaws which are overloaded with children and often get into accidents,” Kujur said.

She added, “Also, some schools use personal vehicles for picking up and dropping children which is illegal.”

Some of the major norms which are supposed to be followed by schools in case of buses include registration of the vehicle on the name of the educational institution or in case of private operators buses need to comply with the school norms.