An inspection of buses by the Nashik Regional Transport Office (RTO) will begin this week to ensure all safety measures are complied with while ferrying students as most of the schools in the city are about to reopen on June 16. Last week a meeting of the school transport committee was held in which, nearly 250 representatives of 110 schools in the district were guided regarding implementation of the state school bus policy. The focus of the RTO will be ensuring safe travel of all students, considering that all the schools will reopen by June 16.
A drive will be conducted across the city and the district to check whether the school bus drivers have the minimum experience of five years. There will be a check on the permits and insurance documents along with fitness certificates of the vehicles. There will be a special check whether all the buses ferrying girls have a female attendant, taking into consideration the incidents in some cities, wherein, girls were molested by the school bus drivers or attendants. RTO Officers made it clear to the representatives that the safety of school students was the responsibility of all. The representatives are asked to create a file in the school that has the details of the routes of the school buses, the halts and names of students travelling. The school representatives were told that it would be good if the attendants in the bus also have a driving license. The representatives were also told that the footboard of the school bus should be less than 220 mm, there should be a mirror inside the bus so that the driver can get the view of all the children seated in the bus. The RTO Officials also appealed the school authorities to conduct one period on transportation of students in their respective schools.
