School vehicles : Virtual death traps :: Stop the overloading
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 10 2015 -

In pursuit of education. That is if what is being taught in the schools of Manipur can be called education.

Everyone sees it everyday.

The high and powerful see it, the parents know it, the cops, particularly the traffic policemen and women see it, the teachers see it, the school authorities know it and the drivers are aware of it too.

But no one seems to have given a thought to the plight of tiny tots who have to be packed like sardines into school vans and other vehicles every day, that is excepting Sundays and when the school is off.

Perhaps it is divine intervention, but so far there has been no report of a tragic road accident, killing young students who have just started going to schools.

Maybe the people and the Government are just waiting for this day to jump into action.

There are organisations galore, each pursuing their own agenda but a pity it is that not a single organisation has deemed it fit to say something about the manner in which school students are packed into school vans and buses and made to go to school.

Why this is so belies all human logic. Not a pretty sight it is to see young students, some as young as only 4 or 5 year old, being packed into school vans and made to attend classes.

It is the same thing when school gets over and the tiny tots have to return home. With no one giving a thought to this potentially dangerous practise, it is time for parents, everyone concerned and elders to come together and raise their voice.

Time also to push the Government and the respective school authorities to do something about it and pronto.

The attention of the van drivers’ association or whatever forum there may be should also be sought.

Given the rate of unemployment here, it cannot solely be due to shortage of drivers or vehicles. More likely it has got to do with the sheer indifference of everyone concerned.

The Government must be prodded into action. Traffic policemen and women should be instructed to penalise any school vehicle that carries more than the prescribed number of students.

The respective school authorities, the Government, the drivers and parents should also sit down together and think of ways on how to put a cap on the number of students that a single vehicle should ferry.

Makes no sense to pack in more than ten young students inside a cramped school van to take them to school.

As it is, students are already under so much pressure and the least that everyone can do is to give them the opportunity to travel to school and come back in relative comfort.

This is not 5 Star treatment but treating young students like human beings.

For too long young students have been taken for granted and it is time that everyone wake up and demonstrate the gesture that they do care.

The vehicle that takes them to school and bring them back should not be turned into a virtual death trap. This is the least that everyone can do for the young students.