All schools directed to ensure Supreme Court guidelines regarding school buses

Chandigarh, February 19, 2015:  The Child Rights Protection Commission, Punjab today seriously took the issue of School Buses of Punjab flouting the guidelines of Supreme Court and endangering the lives of innocent children.

Issuing directives to all District Transport Officers of the state to strictly ensure compliance of Supreme Court guidelines for safety of Children in school buses, Commission Chairman Sukesh Kalia in full commission meeting today observed that it was matter of great regret that DTOs were not seriously checking the school buses. The Commission observed that in most of the accidents involving school buses it was found that either the school buses were not roadworthy or drivers were untrained, without license or not according to the guidelines of Supreme Court.

In a detailed directive to the DTOs, the Commission asked them to ensure that all school bus drivers must have valid driving license for driving that category of bus and they should fulfill all the conditions lay down by Supreme Court in this regard. The Commission also directed that there should be a qualified attendant from starting point of journey to end point. He said that it would be mandatory for the attendants to escort the children and hand them over to parents at every point.