Vidya Vahan app: Technical glitches delay school vehicle tracking

Pathanamthitta: Despite being launched a year and a half ago, the Vidya Vahan app, designed to track the movement of school vehicles, has yet to reach all schools. Technical glitches and delays from school authorities in completing the necessary processes are the primary challenges faced.

The Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) mandates school buses to equip with GPS systems to transport students. The app, which relies on the 'Suraksha Mitr' software developed by the MVD, connects school vehicles with GPS to provide real-time tracking information.

As of now, 20,269 vehicles from various schools are registered with Vidya Vahan. School authorities have entered details of 4,33,823 parents into the app. However, only 31,321 school vehicles have been fitted with GPS systems, meaning only 60 percent of school vehicle information is available through the app.

The MVD launched the app to allow parents to monitor their children’s school bus journeys from home. For the app to function correctly, school authorities must provide details of the children, parents and their vehicles. Each school vehicle is assigned a unique username and login. The app is designed to include the bus route map, phone numbers of parents, the driver, helper, and school manager.

By linking parents’ phone numbers with the vehicle their children are travelling in, the app enables parents to track their children's routes from home. Currently, only yellow school buses registered in the name of school authorities are covered by the system.

Technical issues with the app have also posed a significant problem. MVD officials have informed that the current server issues and assured that they will be resolved soon.