A group of parents has asked Regional Education Directorate (RED), Regional Traffic Police Office (RTPO), Morang District Education Office (DEO), Private and Boarding Schools´ Organization Nepal (PABSON) and National Private and Boarding Schools´ Organization Nepal (N-PABSON) to ban rickshaw-vans, the use of which is widespread in Biratnagar, by December 16. [break]
The association has also appealed to all parents to not send their children to schools by rickshaw-vans.
The call for ban on such vans comes following an accident early this week in which 11 school children were injured. A modified rickshaw used by Shanti Bal Sadan School of Biratnagar to carry its students had met with an accident last Sunday.
Devi Panthi, eastern regional president of the parents´ group, says that the ban on rickshaw-van is necessary as they are prone to road accidents. According to Panthi, rickshaws generally carry a maximum of two persons but over a dozen children are packed into the rickshaw-vans by schools in Biratnagar.
“Rickshaw-vans carry more students than their actual capacities,” Khagendra Bhattarai, a local parent, says. “Our children´s lives are really in danger.”
Most of around 300 private schools in Biratnagar have rickshaw-vans. However, authorities concerned are so far silent about the risk facing school children.
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