BENGALURU: Unaided and aided private schools across Karnataka have asked the transport department to relax the rules for school buses allowing them to procure a fitness certificate and run buses that are 15 years old.
Speaking to TNIE, Lokesh Talikate, the president of Karnataka Private Educational Institutions Association, said, “Private schools have to renew fitness certificates for school buses every year. Besides, we are not allowed to run the school buses on roads if they are more than 15 years old.’’
Comparing them with the government and private buses on roads he said, “Many are over 15 years old and clocked at least 12 lakh kilometers. Our school buses are in good condition as they ply less than 100 kilometers each day.”
He also informed that there are over 6,000 unaided private schools in Karnataka, and changing buses once every 15 years with no government grants will bring financial losses. So they have decided to approach Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy to relax these rules for school buses.
Meanwhile, D Shashikumar, General Secretary of Associated Managements of Primary & Secondary Schools in Karnataka said, “Kerala and Tamil Nadu have allowed school buses to ply even if they are over 15 years old. For new school buses, the department allows renewing fitness certificates once every three years and for old school buses, it has to be renewed once a year.
There are more than 20,000 aided private schools and we have written to the transport minister to relax the rules for school buses and allow them to run even if they are more than 15 years old.”