A lot be done on schoolchildren's safety: Stakeholders

The Chembur school incident has once again brought children's safety on school buses in the spotlight. Despite the claims of female attendants and CCTV cameras, parent-teacher associations say a lot of safety measures are not being followed in letter and spirit.

In most schools, bus committees have been formed but they are non-functional, said a parent.

Earlier this year, the government had issued a set of guidelines for schools. They include marking of attendance before and after school, sending SMS if a child is absent, drop girls till their doorstep. If a girl child is the last to get down, she should be accompanied by a female attendant or teacher. The school bus and canteen staff must be approved by the government, as per the guidelines.

However, the guidelines are neither being followed by the schools nor monitored by the education department, alleged the associations.

According to Arundhati Chavan, president of the PTA United forum, "The schools are supposed to form a school bus committee that should have members of PTA and school management in it. They are supposed to regularly keep a check on school buses for security measures. Sometimes the bus driver or the female attendant is changed, but the schools are not aware of it. "Because they don't own the school buses."

Anil Garg, chairman of School Bus Owners Association, said, "We do give training to school bus drivers and lady attendants regularly on the safety of school children in the school bus. But some incidences happen over security issues sometime."