In the morning hundreds of cabs moves in different directions of Srinagar city to pick up the children from their respective homes and drop them at the schools. As the working hours in the schools come to an end in the afternoon, the children are dropped back to their homes.
There are strict directions from the government to the drivers of these cabs to safely carry the children in their vehicles and not to drive speedily. But large number of drivers allegedly indulge not only in over-speeding but also resort to careless driving.
Such an irresponsible approach puts the lives of the school children to danger, and vulnerable to accidents. The parents must immediately tell the drivers to give up such an attitude and if they do not listen, change the cabs. Authorities of most schools say they have no role in such problems because the cabs are not being operated by them.
According to them, the parents on their own make such an arrangement with the drivers. According to school authorities they run their own school buses for the students. But there are also complaints against the drivers of some of the school buses that they avoid the main roads and take short cuts through narrow roads and lanes to save time and fuel.
This leads to massive traffic jamming and difficulties for the vehicles coming from opposite direction. The drivers of the big buses should be strictly told by the school authorities to avoid narrow roads.
While the school authorities have no direct role in the operation of cabs carrying the children, a mechanism has to be jointly evolved by the parents and school authorities to make the drivers accountable. Overloading in the cabs is also a problem.
While traffic police is taking action against the violators, it cannot be present everywhere to check the violations. It is the primary responsibility of the parents to ensure the safety of their schools going children in the cabs.
Some parents fear that they cannot get another cab for their kid if they keep on complaining to a driver, not mending his ways, and annoy him. Safety of the children in the cabs is of prime importance.
The parents, school administration and concerned government officials will have to see to it that the kids are safe while traveling.