Injuries to about 20 children in a bus hired by Army High Ground School Anantnag has triggered a row over the fitness of school buses used mostly by private schools but not government schools barring which the concerns of people are growing over the licenses of drivers of buses hired by private schools. Use of a condemned bus for students of a school in Anantnag the reports about which went viral on social media sites is a much bigger shocker for people of all shades as private buses are hired for school transport services mostly by private schools only. Interestingly J&K Private Schools Association (PSAJK) had recently unauthorisedly and illegally hiked transport charges for the students availing transport services of schools without any consent or approval from either the Transport Commissioner or Fee Fixation Committee For Regulation Of Private Schools (FFRC). While huge public outrage against unauthorised and unlawful hike in transport charges by private schools is yet to die down amid a stay on the operation of new transport charges announced by the J&K Private Schools Association, the row over the fitness of school buses has brought into question the travel safety of the students in hired buses of private schools. By all standards of understandabilities apart from verifying the fitness of the buses hired by private schools for transport services the verification of the license of drivers is also equally important for the travel safety of students in private school buses. Since all the buses hired for transport services by private schools fall in the category of heavy vehicles it is mandatory for all the private schools to ensure that the buses used by them for transport services are run by only such drivers who are in possession of heavy motor vehicle (HMV) licenses.
While several times dozens of students and teachers were injured in bus accidents during their travel to picnic spots on excursion days in yesteryears, neither the fitness of the buses nor the license of drivers was verified or investigated in such cases of school bus accidents in yesteryears. Though government celebrates road safety weeks twice or thrice in a calendar year but the travel safety of students during their journey to schools, excursions and picnics does not become a bigger part of road safety awareness campaigns in either Kashmir valley or Jammu division.
Never forget the fact that allowing drivers possessing Light Moto Vehicle (LMV) licenses to run school buses coming in the category of heavy vehicles is not only a violation of basic driving rules but also tantamount to risking the lives of students traveling in buses run by drivers possessing Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) licenses. While several times dozens of students and teachers were injured in bus accidents during their travel to picnic spots on excursion days in yesteryears, neither the fitness of the buses nor the license of drivers was verified or investigated in such cases of school bus accidents in yesteryears. Though government celebrates road safety weeks twice or thrice in a calendar year but the travel safety of students during their journey to schools, excursions and picnics does not become a bigger part of road safety awareness campaigns in either Kashmir valley or Jammu division.
