City school buses flout safety norms

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Bhubaneswar: Notwithstanding some of the infamous incidents relating to assault on schoolchildren and laid down norms meant to safeguard their lives, several government as well as private school buses in the city are still evading safety measures and rampantly flouting norms.
An inspection of some of the school buses plying on the city roads has revealed startling facts: Most of them are posing a threat to the lives of schoolchildren despite several guidelines framed by the state as well as the Centre.
In 2017, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had issued guidelines for the CBSE-affiliated schools to ensure child safety. Section 12 (g) of the guidelines says, “Global Positioning System (GPS) and CCTV arrangement should be made compulsory in each school bus. It should be ensured by the owner of the bus that the GPS and CCTV thus installed is kept in working condition at all the time.”
It also talks about some other safety measures. Post Ryan International School row, the state government too came up with a slew of norms in 2017 which also asked for CCTV cameras and GPS.
Many of the buses stationed outside their respective schools were found to follow some norms like vehicle colour (yellow), name of the school on the bus, first-aid box, etc. but most of them have no CCTV cameras and GPS systems. Parents also complained that they felt insecure about their wards due to lack of safety measures.
“A number of rules have been framed by the authorities concerned but several of these are blatantly flouted, causing concern to us. We want the government to ensure compliance with the norms and take action against the errant,” said Kangana Dhal, mother of a Class IV child of a private school in Khandgiri area.
Other parents also expressed similar concerns and said that many had been approaching the school administrations on the issue but in vain. Many school managements refrained from commenting on the issue.
However, Keshav C Satpathy, Principal, DAV Chandrashekarpur, told Orissa POST that, “We are adhering to the specified norms. Although the CCTV cameras on school buses are costly, we have ensured their installation in the new as well as old buses.”