Taking into count the risk involved in the transportation of students to schools in crammed autorickshaws, especially in the rainy season, the education and the transport departments have decided to join hands to formulate guidelines for ferrying children to and from institutions.

Education department principal secretary Amarjeet Sinha said: “The practice could turn deadly, especially when roads are wet and slippery. Talks will be initiated with the transport department regarding norms in connection with the safety of schoolchildren. The directions would then be passed on to schools.”

The transport department, however, seemed a bit cautious. R.K. Mahajan, the transport department principal secretary and presently holding the additional charge of transport commissioner, said: “We are ready for talks. But the department cannot ask private schools to go and buy buses. The existing buses with the schools, whether private or outsourced, have a set of norms. If some parents allow their children to use autorickshaws, it is their choice. There is also a cost involved in buying buses.”

At present, majority of the schools do not have enough buses to ferry all their students.

“What do we do? I stay at Alamganj in Patna City. My child’s school bus does not take this route. Some parents, including me, have booked an autorickshaw to ferry our children to school. It is the responsibility of schools to provide buses,” said a parent whose child studies at Christ Church School near Kargil Chowk.

Syed Shamad Ahmad, the president of Private Schools and Children’s Welfare Association, said: “We had sent a proposal to the education department to arrange for City Ride buses for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening for ferrying schoolchildren.”