Schools cancel, postpone trips after Palakkad tragedy

Thiruvananthapuram: After the Vadakkencherry bus accident that claimed the lives of nine people, including five students, many schools in the district have been either cancelling or postponing excursions owing to the failure in meeting the standards prescribed by the motor vehicles department (MVD).
According to the information available, Thiruvananthapuram Regional Transport Office (RTO) had received seven calls in the last week seeking permission for excursion.
But all the schools later informed the RTO that they had cancelled or postponed excursions citing various reasons.
The RTO authorities are of the view that the cancellation of trips were mainly due to the reason that buses could not be produced before them as majority of the private buses do not comply with the guidelines issued by the transport authorities.
When a few schools could not produce the bus, in which they were supposed to travel, for inspection, some could not fix the timings of the journey as per the guidelines.
Some schools planned the trip at night but as per the new directive, travel is banned between 9pm and 6am. After all, permission must be sought from the department 15 days prior to the trip. The St Thomas Residential School, Mukkolakkal, has cancelled the trip as they could not produce a bus that meets the guidelines before the officers.
“Permission was sought for the trip only a day in advance and they did not turn up when asked to produce the bus for inspection. Later, they informed us that the trip has been cancelled,” said Thiruvananthapuram road transport officer N Thankarajan.
However, the principal of the school, Samuel Varghese, said that the officers directed them to produce the bus for inspection at 10am on the day when the journey was set at 6am.
The School of The Good Shepherd, Aakkulam, postponed the trip after failing to plan a journey between the prescribed time.
“We had planned our trip at 9pm but it was not permitted. So, we postponed it. The new date is not yet fixed,” said the principal of the school.
Thankarajan said that a new set of guidelines has been prepared by the department to ensure safety during school excursions and it would be ready by October 15. “Once the guidelines are ready, a circular on it will be issued to all schools,” added Thankarajan.