The death of four kids and the woman attender of a private nursery school after the van in which they were travelling fell into a canal has brought back the focus into safe transport of children to schools.
The accident is a pointer to the negligence and rashness in the attitude of the parents who charter these vehicles and the school authorities who allow unsafe transportation of children to their campuses.
According to eye witnesses the omni van used to pack as many as 15 children into it on most days. Omni vans are supposed to have a seating capacity of 5 and 7.
It is common now to modify vehicles including vans and autorickshaws used for transporting small kids so that more passengers can be accomodated. Vehicles are modified in such a way that sometimes even close two 25 kids are packed into a single van.
A large number of such kids are pre-schoolers or those attending primary school.
This is in violation of the MV Act, but seldom there is any action.
The buses owned by educational institutions are required to have a colour code and drive their vehicles cautiously. But there is no regulation to cover the transportation of kids using rickshaws and small vans.
