Representational photo.

NEW DELHI: School buses have only changed colour, but not the way they transport children as a large number of them are found flouting all safety guidelines despite directions of the Supreme Court.

Chief of Bureau of Police Research and Development Sudeep Lakhtakia said on Monday flagged this concern, saying he often saw drivers of school buses violating norms. “Even now the road to school or back home is not safe,” he said at a conference, stressing for the need of a policy.

According to government data, nearly 10,000 children below the age of 18 years, most of them school-going students, are killed in road accidents every year. “Data on traffic has been a bear bug all these years. We need to consider re-formating our data collection methodology so that we have a more robust way of registering accidents. Without robust data, we can’t find robust solutions,” Lakhtakia said.

He said the government should draft a standard operating procedure and mandate use technologies for monitoring school transport. “These need to be in a form of charter with clearly mentioned penalty. We need to provide incentive to schools that are following norms,” he said adding that just filing FIR against drivers won't serve the purpose.

Joint secretary (transport) Abhay Damle urged the schools to allow private buses ferrying children inside the school instead of dropping and picking up children from outside the premises. Currently only buses owned by the school are allowed inside the premises.

While agreeing that absence of data is a huge challenge, he said the ministry was working towards creating a system where the exact location of the accident can be recorded.

“Details through the help of technology will help us get data in a more transparent and accurate manner. Lodging of an FIR against the driver as done in the case of Nurpur bus accident in Himachal Pradesh in which 23 schoolchildren died is not the end solution, the engineering fault in the road should also have been rectified within 48 hours of the accident and the spot should have been treated as Black spot. The concerned officials should also be taken for task. Such was provision in the Amended Motor Vehicle Act , but unfortunately the bill collapsed in the last parliament house. It will be brought back in the new parliament “ Damle said.

