Mumbai Schools train bus staff to be gentle with kids, tough in emergencies

Following various adverse incidents involving school bus staff, city schools have identified the need to train them to deal better with the children on board. Podar International School in Santa Cruz, along with Tata Motors, conducted a school bus safety awareness workshop on Saturday.

The workshop, through an interactive session, trained the school bus drivers and attendants on aspects of safety, hygiene and emergencies. It also gave the staff insights into the softer aspects of interacting with children and parents.

“The interactive training programme has been designed with inputs from various stakeholders, sensitising participants to better understand a child’s needs, creating awareness about their duties and responsibilities, general etiquette and behaviour and to take necessary measures in case of accidents,” said R Ramakrishnan, senior vice-president, commercial vehicles business unit, Tata Motors.

“Safety is of paramount importance to every school and, through these initiatives, we can impart a very important element of safety for our children in school bus travel,”said Gaurav Podar, trustee, Podar International School.

Ramakrishnan said, “We always ensure that our children are safe at home and in schools but what about the time between home and school. We need to understand that the role of the school bus staff is very important and, hence, training the drivers and attendants is very necessary.”

Over the past five months, Tata Motors, under its ‘Hamare Bus ki Baat hai’ programme has conducted similar workshops in 13 schools and plans to cover 21 cities in the next 18 to 20 months.

At Podar International School, approximately 55-60% students use the school bus service. The school continues to convince more parents to use the service, during PTA meetings and workshops. However, not all schools are able to achieve high numbers.

“Our school charges Rs500 per month for the bus service but there are some parents who cannot afford it. They are then lured by the pick-up-and-drop service provided by the private operators,” said Shaikh Talat Nasiruddhin, head teacher, Saif Tyabji Girls’ Primary School in Byculla.