The state’s entire school bus safety policy is thanks to the idea and efforts of one woman.

Today, despite a few untoward incidents, the school bus is one of the safest ways to send your young ones to school.Drivers get annual medical exams by a qualified doctor and their vision is tested by an ophthalmologist. The transport contractor has to employ lady attendants for girls and co-educational schools and male attendants for boys’ schools. A first aid box with necessary medicines and equipment should be kept in the vehicle. Every school bus has to carry personal information of students, including blood group and contact numbers. Two fire extinguishers have to be kept in every bus.But just 10 years ago, such facilities were unheard of in school buses. School buses themselves were rare. So where did these sweeping changes come from?It all started in 2002, nine years before the school bus policy was formalised by the state. Civic activist Indrani Malkani, the brain behind the policy, sat in her house on Little Gibbs Road, Malabar Hill, irritated by the incessant honking of cars before and after school hours. The Cathedral and John Connon Infant Secondary School was housed in the same lane.She sought an appointment with Principal Meera Isaacs, armed with an idea to ease the traffic and chaos around schools.The then DCP traffic, Himanshu Roy, was also meeting Isaacs the same day. His solution: car pooling. Malkani’s solution: School buses.Malkani explained her solution thus: A car usually carries two to three children and occupies 13.75 square metres of road space. A bus can carry 45 children and takes up 28.125 square metres. To transport all students of the school, it would take 700 cars or 40 buses. Isaacs immediately approved the idea of putting children on the school bus.“Since Cathedral does not own any buses, 38 contractors were asked to submit tenders to school,” says Malkani. “We selected the 10 best, mapped the residences of all the children residing between Fort and Bandra, figured boarding and disembarking procedures and stops, and commenced the service in June 2002.”The system was run and administered by the school. Apart from decongesting the roads, the model school bus scheme was also turning out to be a social leveller.“Travelling in the school bus was helping eradicate class differences,” says Malkani. “Students were no longer identified by the model of the car they travelled in.”Soon, schools like Campion, Bombay Scottish and J B Petit, Avabai Petit embraced the model. Finally, in 2008, the government sat up and took notice of Malkani’s model. The then principal secretary (transport) Ramanand Jha, invited Malkani to Mantralaya to discuss if it was possible to implement her model across Maharashtra.In July 2008, the government decided to adopt Malkani’s model as the official working paper to formulate the state policy, which was published on March 22, 2011 through a government resolution.Malkani is honest in expressing her unhappiness about the fact that the state has not circulated the entire document, which is in English and Marathi, to all the schools in the state. This has meant that the policy has yet to be implemented across the state. But she is glad that at least her baby has started walking on its own.“A system is successful when the creator is no longer required,” says Malkani. “If society doesn’t demand the right services, the bureaucracy and police, which are also part of society, will not know any better.”School bus safety policyIndrani Malkani, 57Formulating a model to ease traffic and chaos around schools, ensure children are safe on school busesShe has raised a relevant issue, taken a bold step and seen it to its logical end, state education secretaryPart of Mumbai Mirror’s 8th anniversary celebrations, the Heroes campaign looks beyond everyday do-gooders and simple acts of kindness. This initiative will honour people or institutions that have decisively - and positively - changed Mumbai for the better. If you know a hero, tell us about them