Editorial: Lives lost, lessons not learned

Last week, Chennaiites mourned the death of an eight year old student who died in an accident involving a school bus. Reportedly, the boy was run over as the driver of the bus attempted to reverse the vehicle, and had failed to notice the child who was standing behind the bus. The distraught parents of the child had said that had there been an attendant or helper on board the bus, such a tragedy could have been avoided.

The mishap is not the first instance of children in Tamil Nadu losing their lives to the negligence of school bus drivers or administrators. In 2016, a nine-year-old boy in Vaniyambadi lost his life after he came under the wheels of a school bus. The child had reportedly slipped off the foot-board when attempting to climb the bus, and the driver who was unaware of the incident sped on. Again, the private school and its officials had ignored the safety mandates that require the presence of an attendant on school buses. Even earlier, in 2012, a six year old student in Mudichur fell through the floorboard of a school bus that had caved in, and died after she was run over by the same vehicle. And passing the buck seems to be the norm for the parties involved in all cases, as no one dares to take responsibility for their actions. The school management washed its hands off the incident, and instead pinned the blame on private contractors. Transport authorities in turn said the bus was registered under the school’s name.

The Supreme Court had issued safety guidelines for school buses in 1997, in the aftermath of a horrific accident in Wazirabad, New Delhi. A school bus had plunged down a bridge into the Yamuna river, resulting in the deaths of 27 school children. Parents have bemoaned a lack of action even after such loss of lives. As early as 2019, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reported that as many as 11,000 children had died in road accidents in the country, an increase of 11.94 per cent from the previous year. Uttar Pradesh accounted for the bulk of the cases with 2,388 deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,153 and Punjab with 979 deaths.

Beyond the blame game, we must address the deep rot that lies at the heart of our school transport system and urban planning. While schools boast about being located centrally, there may or may not be space for a vehicle to be parked in a safe manner, either within the campus or outside it. Children are often asked to alight the bus, right on the edge of the main road, bustling with high speed traffic. There are also schools that mandate admission only to students who live a certain distance from the schools, to ensure their safety, which is a hackneyed solution.

Except for top tier schools, few administrations bother conducting periodic checks on the state of vehicles in their custody. Apart from the quality of the vehicles, it’s essential to confirm the buses are driven and attended to by able-bodied individuals, whose licenses, background checks and driving records are impeccable. How many drivers would pass muster in such tests is anyone’s guess. In the aforementioned recent incident, the driver was reported to be a 60-year-old man.

Last week, school officials were told by the School Education Department to prevent students from riding two-wheelers to the institutions. But there’s so much more to be done in this space that requires both government intervention in terms of policy changes and parental support in terms of reporting of norms being flouted.