Will School Bus Make Life Better ?

Recent news reports cited that a three year old kid was knocked down by his school bus.This happens every year.In another incident, a six year old girl in Chennai fell to death through a hole in the floor of her school bus.Such incidents have started alarming parents of kids who travel by school buses. Although, there are private taxis available for ferrying the kids to and fro to school, not many parents can afford these services primarily because of their exorbitant charges.

Therefore, they settle for the cheaper school buses. After the above incidents,the Supreme Court decided to lay down guidelines which school buses must follow for safety.These guidelines have already come into effect from 1st May 2013, and are now being implemented in majority of schools. School bus accidents have become so common in India that at times they often do not make more than a single column in newspapers.Yet, parents on their part are not raising their voices on them. Although,many parents who were spoken to had a lot of reservations in the public transport system of their child, they were loathe to raise their voices. A parent whose kid goes to a reputed international school in Whitefield complained that the school bus dropped her daughter’s classmate in front of her society’s gate at a different time than the usual one. At such a time,the assistant in the bus did not even bother to check out whether there was anybody present to receive the child.

Many parents also have issues with buses which do not follow the speed limit and their frolicking children, who are playing inside, getting hurt due to this. One parent even approached her school with a suggestion that the school bus should have seat belts for the children. Unfortunately, her child’s school has not taken her suggestion seriously enough. When this issue was raised in a parent’s open house, one parent commented that in India parents do not wear seatbelts so how can we expect children to obey. 

Jinal Chedda, a stay at home mom, and founder of the facebook group for Bangalore moms, does not have any complaints with her son’s transport system,but she says that the school should set a speed limit and ask drivers to adhere to it. She also says that there should be some attendant in the bus to look after the safety of the kids inside the bus. She has voiced a fear that many parents have and which cannot be changed by the Supreme Court ruling.Other drivers could drive rashly and still there could be accidents involving the school bus.The WHO in its first ever global status report on Road safety pointed out that the mortality rates of children in India per one lakh people is 19.This is because, when most parents are hunting for schools,they usually look at factors like student teacher ratio in class, the curriculum, academic record, sports facilities offered by the school and such other things.They seldom look at the facility of school transport of their kid.Therefore,it remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court ruling will have any effect on school bus accidents.