The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Municipal School Board of Ahmedabad with the support of Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA) have launched 10 buses in Ahmedabad with built-in classrooms to educate children about traffic signals.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation(AMC) had sanctioned 3 crore rupees to fund this initiative called “Signal School”. This scheme aims to The Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) had donated 10 discarded busses to be refurbished into mobile classrooms. 20 young contractual teachers were hired for this bus initiative, instead of regular teachers. Though the number of buses is limited to 10, it will increase based on the demand.
The buses are colorfully painted with colorful pictures, and good habits and the roof has been painted the color of the sky. The bus comes with a TV, a writing board, a small desk and chair for the teacher, and toys and games for children.
The “Signal School” begins with picking up children, mostly between the ages of 6 to 10 from the nearest traffic signals en route to the nearest municipal school. The school begins with children boarding the bus and greeting their teacher, which is followed by reciting a Gujarati prayer. Each Signal School equipped with one teacher and one assistant teacher will carry out the elementary teaching. The Signal School has also gone a step further in letting the parents of the children stay on the bus until the children get used to regular schooling.
Since most of the children have not attended formal education, the schools begin with basics like numbers, alphabets, fruits, etc, until they move on to municipal schools, once their learning level increases. These children will be provided mid-day meals at the nearest municipal school. They will also be covered under the state’s School Health Program as any normal school.
