Safe School Vahan Scheme in Punjab

Safe School Vahan Scheme in Punjab

Recently the safe school vahan scheme was proposed to the government. This was to ensure that the students were safe in carpools and that their privacy or security wasn’t compromised. Since a lot of students traveled via carpools, this step was asked to be taken.

How City schools reacted

The High Court ordered the schools to take measures to ensure that their transportation was safe. This is why the city schools organized counseling sessions for the drivers. This was to make them aware of the implications of wrong driving and also to make them aware of the child’s necessities and security.

More than 100 drivers in 2015 were educated about the etiquettes to maintain while driving. They were given training on first aid and fire safety and lessons on how to keep the children safe in case of emergencies.

How private schools reacted

Things were moving pretty swiftly when 305 schools failed to turn up for the event in February, 2016. Total 340 private schools were called for a meeting by the Jalandhar administration. However, 305 of them did not appear. This clearly shows that while the city schools were keen on taking part with the initiative, certain private schools were reluctant to implement the rules.

The reports also suggested that these 350 schools did not provide any women attendants, CCTV footage, emergency doors, etc in their vehicles. Hence, the security of children in these vehicles was highly compromised.

The situation as of now is worse. Despite a series of orders issued by the high court of Punjab and Haryana, the private schools continue to be absent for the cause. Not just that according to the government officials, the private schools continues to violate the rules prescribed by the high court.

What the instructions clearly were

• A pro forma was given to the schools asking them to provide details regarding registration number, type of vehicle, model number, speed governor, seating capacity, and so on.
• They were asked to keep first aid kits in the school vehicles and also have proper locks and ample doors including emergency or hydraulic doors.
• Out of the 757 schools that were asked to provide their information, only 260 provided information regarding the condition of their school vehicles.

This only goes to show further that even now several schools are not taking the ‘safe school vahan’ instructions of the high court seriously.

Overview

Here are a few more things which you must know –

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