This week’s tragic accident in Pallewela, Kuliyapitiya when a van transporting schoolchildren collided head-on with a tipper truck travelling in the opposite direction, calming the lives of two schoolgirls and their 64-year-old driver has once again pushed another long-standing crisis back into the public spotlight. The accident saw nearly a dozen other students who were in the vehicle being admitted for treatment to hospitals close by, some remain in serious conditions as of yesterday.
The driver of the heavy vehicle which the Police suspects was driven recklessly at high speed before the collision has been taken into custody and remanded. While the manner in which heavy vehicles are being driven on our roads has generated much debate with calls for regulatory changes and tougher penalties, few discuss the crucial issue about how our most precious assets – our children commute to school, and the safety involved in that process.
The vehicle which met the unfortunate accident in Kuliyapitiya is emblematic of the fleet of vans which are used to transport schoolchildren over the last two decades. They are in general, outdated – decades old, and lacking modern safety features. There are vans manifested in the 1980’s which are still in service, commuting students on a daily basis. This is a fleet-wide problem, as it seems that vans used for commercial purposes and tourism are ‘retired’ to be used till their engines give out, carrying students to school.
Sri Lanka has tried but failed to effectively enforce any meaningful safety regulations which the fleet abides by. School transport safety in Sri Lanka faces significant challenges, including overcrowded and poorly maintained private vans and outdated private buses. If proper safety audits were conducted on the ‘school transport service fleet’, a large number of vehicles in use for it would be found unfit to be on the roads. Some observers have questioned why the Government did not prioritise giving incentives to help the school transport fleet to replenish their outdated stock of vehicles with newer 12-15-seater vans, when the vehicle import restrictions were relaxed earlier this year.
Surely, the State can offer some concession for such vehicles to be imported, through which a new regulatory process and routine audits could also have been introduced. Afterall, there was a period where vehicle imports for the tourism industry was also prioritised. If it was important enough to give relief for tourism, why not for the safety of schoolchildren.
Many parents have complained that due to inefficiency and availability of public transport, they are compelled to rely on such outdated fleets of vehicles as they are ‘all that’s available’ to provide such services. However, this does not remove the parents from part of the responsibility that they are entrusted with in the care of their children. The State, education, law enforcement, and transport officials, motorists, and parents all bear the responsibility for the safety of school-aged children. Initiatives like the government’s ‘Sisu Sariya’ public bus service, have been found to be lacking in capacity and efficiency, with the number of buses available for the service nowhere near the quantity needed. The Government’s drive to address this crisis must be multi-faceted, it will also need an increased capacity and efficiency by the state-run public transport system, including rail and buses.
Recently, a local telco introduced an initiative for a location-tracking system as a solution designed to enhance student safety, bridge communication gaps between parents and school transport operators, and improve operational efficiency in school transportation. According to the service provider: “School van owners, through this programme, have the opportunity to offer this value-added service to parents, making the daily commute more transparent, secure, and reassuring for families.” By providing a more accountable and reliable service, operators can build stronger trust with parents and streamline their daily operations. Perhaps such technologies, live monitoring of school transport fleets and better regulatory compliance will help get our children to school and back safely.