City Reports

Post readers react to the death of St Anselm’s student, blame school, traffic department

All schools in the city are violating norms.

pinkcitypost author img

May 1, 2017, 5:13 pm

Malviya nagar accident

Shanvi Singh was a nursery student at St Anselm's School in Malviya Nagar.

Jaipur: The issue surrounding the incident of a four-year-old girl’s death in a tragic accident outside St Anselm’s Pink City School drew strong reactions from city residents.

Thousands of Post readers reacted to the death in form of comments on the website and social media channels, blaming the school and traffic department. The types of reactions the incident triggered clearly suggest the issue of lack of parking space in schools and unruly traffic outside educational institutions affect almost every household in the city.

Read Also: Traffic drive outside Jaipur schools: underage drivers caught off guard

One of the readers, Anita Chopra commented, “…my son is studying there…..I have been going through this problem for last four years…..drivers are not taking the kids from inside…..we saw the accident…..and we are in shock too and worried about our kids….I have complained so many times to the school administration….but they are not taking any action against the drivers………may God give strength to the parents and her soul rest in peace”

The girl, Shanvi Singh, was a nursery student. A resident of Sidharth Nagar in Gataur Road area, she had come to the school with her father, an assistant manager with a cooperative bank,, when a crane mowed her down.

Anita said she was not against the school, but she only wanted to ensure safety of her kids.

“I m in so much shock after this incident that I m not able to come out of this… discipline and system is important for each and every institute,” said Anita.

Another reader Sumit Mathur has a few suggestions to prevent such mishaps:

“Honi ko koi nahi taal sakta”…But yes we can take precautions to avoid it …this accident has taught us some lessons.

Sumit said that people in India don’t have traffic sense. “ Outside India (in many countries), the traffic stops even for a pedestrian so that he or she can cross  road. People care for pedestrians even when no traffic policeman is present.

Sumit advised parents to cross the road carefully and “we should care for our safety from the careless drivers and should hold our children tightly when moving on roads. Sumit demanded that speed brakers to slow down vehicles approaching schools are very necessary at both ends. Unnecessary road cuts should be removed from such busy main roads to invite accidents…red light just before school should be there.

He said that should provide adequate parking space to guardians dropping and picking up children. School should depute security guards to make it hassle – free. Barricades outside the school entry or exit gate with proper staff to be placed during the school start time and closing time and should be followed religiously everyday rather than for few days of mishap.

Another reader Abhijeev Vaishnav said some measures have been taken by the school after the mishap. Had these measures been taken before the accident, the girl’s life could have been saved, he said.

Many readers referred to the deceased girl as ‘little angle’ and said that they were unable to control their emotions over the tragedy.

One of the Post readers said that as per the rules, the entry and exit gates should be separate, but almost all schools in the city violated this rule.

There had been more than two dozen accidents on this particular stretch of road in the past three years. Four people have lost their lives, while 25 others were injured in these mishaps.

 

Editor’s note: Some comments have been moderated slightly to maintain the flow. Please join the discussion on how we can make transportation more secure for our school kids.

First published: April 26, 2017