india

Updated: Apr 22, 2019 08:12 IST

In the wake of the rising number of children dying in road accidents the country, the union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) will hold a two-day conclave in the capital to brainstorm for formulating a national ‘draft policy for safe school transport’.

At least 655 children in Delhi died in road accidents last year, as per the World Health Organisation global report on road safety released in December 2018.

The two-day meet to be conducted on April 29-30 in the city will have road safety experts and stakeholders from various departments, including education and transport from the state governments.

Around 10,000 children below the age of 18 are killed in road accidents every year in the country, according to data provided by the MoRTH.

Road traffic injuries are the first cause of death among children aged six and 14 years, the report said.

The Institute of Road Traffic and Education (IRTE) and School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), in partnership with the MoRTH, will host the meet that will deliberate on issues regarding the loopholes and challenges faced in providing safe transport facilities for children.

“The two-day conference is aimed at developing a policy document for India to incorporate domains such as roles and responsibility, road environment, vehicle factors, standard operating procedures as well as the curriculum of training of stakeholders dealing with the transportation of school children in all modes of transport including both motorised and non-motorised means, enforcement, and post-crash management,” said Rohit Baluja, president, IRTE.

Last November, the death of an eight-year-old after his school cab was hit by a goods vehicle had sparked a row on illegally plying school transport in the city and loopholes in the existing School Cab Policy, 2007.

Following the incident, the Delhi government’s transport department had prepared a proposal for formulating a fresh cab policy. However, nothing much has moved forward in this direction so far.

“Delhi is one of the few states with an existing school transport policy. However, we had proposed a fresh policy for which we had written to the education department asking them to share details of the number of schools, children enrolled and the type of transport engaged both by the schools as well as by parents. We are still waiting for the data and will start work on it as soon as we receive it,” said a senior official.

In order to formulate a policy, the department needs to understand the demand and supply gap, the official said.

“The two-day conclave will offer an opportunity for us as well to deliberate on the issue,” the official added.