The assessment is conducted in May to give schools enough time to make the necessary repairs and modifications to the vehicles for re-examination by the RTO before the schools reopen. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Schools set to reopen next month, nearly 100 school vehicles, including vans and buses, have been tested as unfit for use by regional transport officials (RTOs) in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts as part of an annual assessment.
RTO officials said that around 3,170 school vehicles are currently registered in these districts. f The annual evaluation is monitored by the District Level School Safety Committee comprising the Finance Divisional Officer (RDO), Deputy SP, District Education Officer (DEO) and Regional Transport Officer (RTO).
The assessment is conducted in May to give schools enough time to make the necessary repairs and modifications to the vehicles for the RTO’s re-examination before the schools reopen. “Separate ledgers are maintained for fitness-certified school vehicles and other vehicles. Stickers have also been pasted on the school vehicles to pass the fitness test,” M. Karunanidhi, RTO (Tiruvannamalai), told The Hindu .
On Friday, Collector K. Tharpagaraj inspected the eligibility verification of school vehicles at the Police Quarters ground in Tiruvannamalai in the presence of Muniraj, Chief Education Officer (CEO), Tiruvannamalai.
Among the nine RTOs, Tiruvannamalai has the highest number of school vehicles (871), followed by Vellore (480), Arani (430), Ranipet (480) and Vaniyambadi (322). Arakkonam has the lowest number with 239 school vehicles within its limits.
RTO officials said the team has to check 21 other safety parameters, including footboard height, floor strength, fire extinguisher, first aid kit, speed controller, driver’s cabin, seats, bag racks, windows, window grills and emergency exits. Transport officials will affix “OK” stickers to buses that have passed the inspection. The deadline for ineligible vehicles to obtain a permit is on or before May 31.
The newly created district of Ranipet has two RTOs – Ranipet and Arakkonam. Major cities like Arcot, Walajah, Sholinghur and Thimiri fall under Ranipet RTO while Arakkonam RTO has Arakkonam and Nemili cities.
Officials said the tightening of rules, especially for school vehicles, has become the norm following the passage of the Tamil Nadu Special Motor Vehicles (Regulation and Inspection of School Buses) Rules, 2012, which mandates officials to inspect school vehicles annually.
Published – 16 May 2026 05:30 IST
