No laws to govern child transport

We need an assistant because we can’t ensure the safety and medical care of children while we drive. If a girl is sick we drivers are helpless, that’s why women are required.”

Lack of authority and law are hampering the provision of safe school transport, the Chairman of the All-Island Inter-District Schoolchildren Transport Association, N.M.K Harishchandra Padmasiri, said.

He said school van drivers have been urging the government to set up a monitoring system with laws administered by a government authority.

There was no proper method for registration of school van drivers, Mr. Padmasiri said. There were guidelines for drivers to register with local police and employ a female assistant to look after children in the van but most drivers did not comply due to lack of supervision and strong laws.

“We need an assistant because we can’t ensure the safety and medical care of children while we drive. If a girl is sick we drivers are helpless, that’s why women are required,” he said.

Mr. Padmasiri pointed out that while private buses had a monitoring body school vans in which children were transported every day operated without rules, regulations or government intervention.

He also said drivers should undergo psychological and physical checks before being granted permits.

The Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority (CPA), Natasha Balendra, said the CPA's mandate only allowed it to set guidelines to ensure the safety of children.

She added that when the CPA had drawn up guidelines in the past the Transport Ministry had said it had no authority to intervene and given assurances that the Transport Commission would draw up a set of regulations.

The Ministry of Transport said it was working on setting up an authority to regulate and monitor school van drivers and was drawing up legislation to back the authority.