Patna: The Bihar Public School & Children Welfare Association has welcomed the transport department's directive for installing speed limit device in school buses, and said it would ask its registered institutions to follow the order.

Chairperson D.K. Singh on Friday said there are roughly32,000 schools registered with the Bihar Public School & Children Welfare Association. He said the association would try to convince the schools to implement the recent order because "after all, this is for the safety of school students and commuters on the roads," he said.

"We would definitely initiate a dialogue with the schools. There have been many road accidents in the state capital in which school buses were involved. Such a kind of instruction should have been issued long ago," added Singh.

The transport department had issued a letter to all district magistrates, superintendents of police and regional commissioners on Thursday to ensure speed limit devices are installed in the buses and the maximum speed limit should be 40kmph.

The letter also warned that fitness certificate of school buses not complying with the order would be cancelled.

The Central Board of Secondary Education had also issued comprehensive guidelines regarding school buses last year according to which installing speed governors with 40kmph, GPS (global positioning system) and CCTV cameras were mandatory. But the order has hardly been implemented.

Sources said missionary schools in the city, including Notre Dame Academy and Loyola High School, don't have buses of their own and have expressed helplessness to ask their private bus operators to install the speed governors.

"We cannot ask the private bus operators to do this. Even if parents come with a request, they would be told that the school administration has nothing to do with this issue," said a senior teacher of Notre Dame Academy on the condition of anonymity.

An official at Loyola High School concurred with the teacher.