Kids can’t go to school in pvt vehicles, says state

Anahita Mukherji | TNN

Mumbai: Schools in the state can no longer absolve themselves of all responsibility for their school bus system.

The state government-appointed committee on school buses, set up over a year ago, has come out with its final list of guidelines, which could change the haphazard and often hazard-fraught way that this system is currently run.

The committee has now made it mandatory for all schools to set up a transport committee to look into how their students travel to school. Interestingly, it has also made it compulsory for them to travel to school either by school bus or public transport.

“Those who want to walk to school can also do so. But no child will be allowed to come to school in a private vehicle unless temporary exemption is sought by parents,’’ said Indrani Malkani, a member of the committee. The onus of implementing the new guidelines will lie with the schools.

School buses will now have an age limit—eight years for a regular bus and 15 years for a CNG one—and will have to regularly undergo tests and prominently display their maintenance certificates.

It is also mandatory for them to have two fire extinguishers and an exit at the rear right side. All school buses will have to be yellow; if hired from private contractors, they will have to sport a yellow band across the body. School bus drivers will have to have at least five years’ experience.

The guidelines will now be sent to the state transport minister for his final nod.