Bhopal: The personnel manning the buses of most of the schools in the city are working without their credentials being verified through the police. However, the school managements assured that they would comply with the directives of the government regarding police verification of the drivers, conductors and other subordinate staff.
“Till now, we never got verification of drivers and conductors done through the police”, says Athnas Lakra, Principal of Campion School, Arera Colony.
“However”, he added, “at our level we make sure that they are not involved in any criminal activities. When a new driver or conductor is hired, we keep him on probation for two years. We keep a watch on him and if we find anything suspicious in his conduct, we terminate him. We have installed CCTV cameras in the school and the buses for the safety of the children. At regular intervals, we guide the conductors and drivers regarding their behaviour and conduct”.
While Campion School operates buses owned by it, St. Joseph Co-ed School hires buses from private operators. “We enter into an arrangement with the operators only if they have got police verification of their drivers and conductors done. If any driver is found behaving improperly we ask the owner to replace him”, said the school Principal, Varghese Shiju P.S.
The state government has now made it mandatory for all schools to get police verification of bus conductors and drivers done. The government has made it clear that in case of violation of the directive, the principal and the management will be held responsible. The directive also stated that all schools and colleges should have CCTVs installed on their premises. The CCTV should not only cover the main premises but also the surrounding areas. The directives came after the massive uproar over the brutal murder of a 7-year-old boy at Gurugram in Haryana.
