NEW DELHI: In July 2018, the Directorate of Education instructed schools to discourage parents from using private vans to ferry children to school. Later that year, it said that the schools should regulate the private vans while making them accountable for any untoward incident on the roads. In July last year, on the direction of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, DoE ordered the audit of these vehicles. Yet, with the new academic session starting on April 3, the overloaded private vans continue to operate.TimesViewOwners of private vans ferrying school children should also be made responsible for a child’s safety and well-being. They should employ drivers only after thorough background checks. Parents too should be watchful, and take note of any sign of changed behaviour in their kids.Jyoti Arora, principal, Mount Abu Public School, Sector 8, Rohini, admitted that the private vans were a reason for concern. “Parents pool in to hire these private vans to ferry their children. The schools do not have jurisdiction as such,” Arora revealed. “We have been asking the van drivers to submit details of their licence. We are trying to carry out the verification of the cans and drivers according to our set procedure, but neither do the vans listen to us nor do the parents help us. To tell the truth, we are tired of them.” The school plies its own buses on most routes taken by students.According to rough estimates, more than 32,000 private vans operate as school cabs, but only 9,000-odd are registered with the transport department. Delhi government first formulated the school cab policy in 2007 and revised it in 2017. In July 2022, the state government announced that it was revising the policy to regulate private cabs following the rising complaints of these vehicles flouting traffic norms and putting the school students at risk.There have been instances of these vans catching fire, causing accidents due to rash driving, even accusation of molestation and rape by the van drivers and helpers. In the crammed vehicles, it is common to see children sitting on the CNG cylinders.Another school principal, who did not want to be named, said, “The schools cannot do much about the private vans. On numerous occasions, we have suggested to the parents that they accompany their children in the van on a rotation system. If the van carries 10 children, each parent’s turn would come only once in 10 days. But the parents don’t listen to our suggestions.”The parents themselves, both of government and private schools, cite compulsions for having to use the vans. “Not all schools have their own buses. When this is so, not all parents have the means to drop the children to school every day and the vans are useful,” said Rakesh Goyal, who sends his child to school in one such can. “These vehicles are also cheaper than the school bus. Perhaps if there are some compulsory norms established by the government to keep a check on these vans and to verify the antecedents of drivers, many of the problems can be resolved.”
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-why-private-vans-continue-to-ferry-children-despite-dangers/articleshow/99800200.cms
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