A cap on the number of students Safety, wellbeing of tiny tots

The move of the Government is noted but at the same time one cannot help but wonder why it took such a long time to wake up to the reality. It was as long back as 2013 that The Sangai Express had expressed deep concern over the manner in which school vans ferried more than 10 students to school and back on May 25, 2013 and the call to regulate the number of students each school van may carry was sounded. That the Government paid no heed is there for all to see, and the deep concern was sounded after two out of 15 school students who had lost consciousness inside a school van had to undergo emergency treatment at the JNIMS Casualty Ward. Fifteen students packed inside a school van, most probably a Maruti Omni, which otherwise has a seating capacity of 5 adults, including the driver and one can imagine the circus that was being enacted in the name of ferrying young students to school and back home, later in the evening. It was back in 2013 that The Sangai Express had suggested to the State Government to lay down the number of students which each school van may carry but then truly living up to anything that has to do with the Government in Manipur, nobody paid any attention to the proposal. Fast forward to 2022 and if one recalls correctly, Chief Minister N Biren had urged all school van drivers and bus operators to stick to the number of students laid down by the Government. The reminder of the Chief Minister came after the Noney bus tragedy when a number of school children, who were out on an educational tour were killed in a road accident. This was sometime in November/December and back then, The Sangai Express had backed the call of the Chief Minister to limit the number of students each vehicle may carry. In the days that followed the Noney tragedy of 2022, The Sangai Express had even sent the picture of a school van packed with school students to the Chief Minister via Whatsapp. Nothing was heard after this for quite some time but now with the State Government laying down the number of students each school van may carry, school van drivers and transporters have raised their opposition to the directive of the Government. The school van drivers and transporters may have a point and how things progress from here remains to be seen, but it is significant that the Government has spelt out what is expected of the different vans carrying young school students. One hopes the Government does not rest easy with just issuing an order, but follows it up and takes things to its logical conclusion. Talk with the van drivers and transporters and explore avenues such as whether the van fees may be hiked which again must be acceptable to the parents and guardians of the young students.
It is also important, very important for all the schools, whether private or Government, to come together and work out a model that puts a cap on the number of students that each van may carry. This is a suggestion which had been sounded earlier on more than one occasion in this very column and one wonders whether the different school authorities have ever given a thought to this. The schools too have responsibilities in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the young students once they go out from their homes to proceed to their respective schools. One also wonders whether the Government has reached out to the different schools on this matter and this is important, more so, since the school van drivers and transporters have got together to lay down their conditions too. The objective of coming out with such a stricture is to ensure the wellbeing and safety of the young students and no one should grudge this. As noted earlier here, avenues may be discussed with the different parent associations to come to a fee that would be acceptable to all parties. Overcrowded school vans is a point which should have been discussed much earlier for it involves the safety of all school going children and this is precisely the reason why The Sangai Express had commented on this as way back as 2013. And this is now 2024.