On Tuesday, the north zone education officials issued a circular to the principals of all the zonal education institutions to run safety checks of school buses. The circular states that according to the instructions in the PIL filed in Nagpur High Court, schools have to conduct fitness checks of school buses during the summer vacation. The schools have also been asked to send a report on the same to the ward officer before the they begin the academic year in June.
Anil Sable, education inspector, north zone, said: "The instructions had come to our office from the RTO department after a PIL was filed, hence we forwarded it to all the schools. These instructions are not just for the north zone but for other zones as well. The respective zonal education inspectors might have informed the schools in their area as well to do fitness checks of school buses for the safety of their students."
The fitness checks includes points like ensuring the bus colour is yellow, the 'school bus' signs on the back and front side of the bus must be in place, the name of the school must be mentioned on the brown strip and so on.
Several other instructions which are to be implemented by schools have been given by the RTO to the education department in a circular issued on April 29, 2016.
The RTO's circular states that the checks need to commence from May 1 and should be completed before the holidays end. Reports on these checks need to be submitted to respective ward officers on May 15, May 30 or June 6.
Anil Garg, chairman of School Bus Owners Association, said: "Today morning, more than 80 buses were gathered at the RTO offices and the officers had a tough time conducting the checks. If they do this on a regular basis, it will be good. Kudos to all the officers for the wonderful job that they have done in this hot climate. We have requested the transport commissioner for an extension of one month for these checks, as most of the school bus drivers were on leave."
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