School buses soon to ferry students of govt schools in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Just like private schools, children of government schools also can ride school buses to reach school premises soon. The state government has issued an order for buying school buses for the use of government school children.

The government has added the bus facility to attract admissions to government schools in the state, where admissions have been steadily falling. Several schools, with nil admissions, have been closed in recent times.

Minister B C Nagesh told the media that the schools where 10 or fewer students are admitted will be shifted to ‘Government Model schools’ nearby. School buses will be started to bring children to these model schools, he added.

The funds for these will have to be borne from the MLA’s grants availed under the Karnataka Legislators’ Local Area Development Scheme (KLLADS). It is learnt that the education department will implement the school bus facility initially in 200 schools across the state.

The Department of Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics has issued an order to prepare a comprehensive plan for the purchase of vehicles necessary from MLA’s local area funds.

Who pays for it?

In the amended Karnataka Legislators’ Local Area Development Scheme (KLLADS), the use of funds for buying school vehicles has been added. However, the cost of operating these vehicles is not mentioned.

The driver’s wages and petrol/diesel and repair expenses are to be met under other grants from the School Development and Management Committee (SDMC), sources said.