The State Transport Department will make Global Positioning System (GPS) compulsory for all school buses and private vehicles that carry children.
This is being done under the directions of the Union Transport Ministry, which held a meeting recently in Delhi, where senior officials of the department from all states participated.
“Once we receive an official communication from the Union Ministry of Transport, we will implement the order by issuing a circular to the managements of all educational institutions across the state to fix GPS on their vehicles.
We will also make it compulsory for private vehicles.
Action will be initiated against school managements if they fail to follow the rule,” an official of the Transport Department, who participated in the Delhi meeting, said.
According to the official, the state government will implement the order as “the safety of schoolchildren is of paramount interest”.
He told Express that the Union government was deeply concerned over the rising incidents of sexual abuse of children in school buses in some states.
In view of this, it wants all the state governments to issue a circular to the managements of all private /aided /unaided educational institutions to install Global Positioning System in their school buses, he said.
This would not only help track the movement of school buses but also check the objectionable behaviour of drivers.
Besides, the police and transport departments could easily monitor the buses, he said.
A few months ago, the driver of a school bus reportedly misbehaved with a primary schoolgirl in Udupi which triggered a protest by angry parents.