The recent incident in which a nine-year-old was allegedly molested by a contractual employee in a Dadar school, has prompted the school bus owners association (SBOA) to organise a counselling session for their drivers and women attendants to make them aware of the pitfalls of molestation.
The SBOA has also decided to create awareness among students by putting up posters that will educate them on how to safeguard themselves against molestation, apart from the do’s and don’ts for their safety.
Speaking about the initiative, Anil Garg, president of the SBOA, said that the recent incident was shocking and it could happen anywhere.
“It is unfortunate that despite all the precautions being taken by the authorities, such instances take place in the least expected of situations. Hence, SBOA has decided to hold counseling sessions for their drivers and female attendants to ensure that they are aware of the pitfalls of resorting to such abominable acts of molesting school children,” said Mr Garg.
He further added that the sessions would be conducted by NGO’s at 17 schools in the city and SBOA planned to cover around 700 drivers and attendants in the first phase of the counselling. “We have identified some major schools that have agreed to offer their premises for the counselling sessions and the first will be held on January 14 at RBK School at Mira Road followed by Ryan School at Kandivali and so on,” said Mr Garg.
Pointing to the need of making children aware of how they should protect themselves from molestation, Mr Garg said that posters of do’s and don’ts will be put up in buses. “The posters will try to portray in words what the students should be careful of during their bus rides. The posters will also be mentioning the ethics and etiquettes of travelling by bus for the benefit of the students,” said Mr Garg.
When asked whether SBOA would be installing CCTV surveillance on the buses, Mr Garg said that it was something they were working on and would try to implement before they are told to do so.
