A day after the alleged sexual assault on a five-year-old kindergarten student by a conductor inside a school bus came to light, private schools and bus operators were not in agreement over a possible solution to avoid such an incident in future. H S Mamik, president of the Independent School Association that represents majority of the private schools, said that the association was seriously considering to deploy women supervisors or conductors inside the buses in July, after the summer vacation. “We will hold a meeting of our members on Saturday and take a call whether we can have women bus conductors or supervisors inside the buses. Accordingly, bus operators will be directed to implement the orders,” said Mamik. [related-post] However, Manjit Singh, president of the Chandigarh School Bus Operators’ Association, said that the proposal to have female staff seemed impractical. “Our buses are parked in faraway periphery areas, with attendants staying inside. Besides, adjusting the female staff between different shifts and routes was going to be extremely difficult,” he said. “Besides, if we hire female staff under pressure of schools, who will bear the salary?’’ he asked. “According to court guidelines, we are only bound to have one attendant and one driver in each bus, which are already there.’’ “If we are forced to hire female staff, the extra financial burden will be on the school or parents,” he said. Mamik, however, said that safety was the more important concern. “Parents will pay not more than Rs 50 to 100 in case female staff was hired for buses,” he said. Parents, however, want schools to start taking responsibility rather than making cosmetic changes. “How many times have they verified the driver’s experience or sought police verification of the attendants employed by the contractors?’’ asked Puneet Kansal, a parent. “This incident should serve as a wake-up call for the schools and the Education Department must come up with mandatory guidelines to be followed by both schools and bus operators,” he said. Another parent, Shalini Mehta, said that use of technology like GPS system and CCTV cameras could help in strengthening security inside buses. Education Secretary Sarvjit Singh said he would call a meeting of school managements and bus operators next week to address the issue of safety of students in school buses. Employing female staff could be an option but the final call would be taken after the meeting, he said.
