A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between BRTC and GPH Ispat Limited for the management of smart school buses by the Chattogram district administration.
GPH Ispat Limited will be the sponsor of 'Smart School Bus' for the next two years. In these two years, they will donate Tk 1.44 crore. All types of maintenance and expenses of the buses, including fuel cost, will be borne apart from the salary of the bus driver staff.
The signing of this agreement was held on Thursday afternoon in the meeting room of Chattogram Deputy Commissioner for the management of 10 smart school buses.
It was attended by Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Abul Basar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) Sadi Ur Rahim Jadid, GPH Ispat Limited Advisor Colonel (retd) Md Shawkat Osman and media advisor Mohammad Osman Gani, BRTC Manager Md Zulfikar Ali, assistant commissioners of District Administration, Smart School Bus Monitoring Team Nurul Azim Rony, Technology Partner, District Primary Education Officer and other persons.
The MoU was signed by BRTC Sub-depot Manager Zulfikar Ali and GPH Ispat Advisor Shawkat Osman on behalf of their respective organizations.
Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Abul Bashar Md. Fakhruzzaman said students can travel on these buses on five roads in the city. Buses have been equipped with smart technology, GPS tracker, camera, AI to provide automatic SMS to the parent's phones while getting on and off the bus, monitoring the location of the students in the bus and ensuring low cost school and college travel. In the future, the number of buses will be gradually increased according to the demand.
It is known that Chattogram district administration is taking and implementing various plans with the slogan 'Prosperous city, developed village, smart Chattogram with the touch of technology' as part of the construction of Smart Bangladesh announced by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Chattogram district administration's innovative initiative called 'Smart School bus' was selected for the first prize under the 'Smart District Innovation Challenge-2023', a competition based on the innovative activities of the districts of the country, conducted by the Aspire to Innovate (A2i) programme under the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology under the guidance of the Cabinet.
Ten double-decker school buses gifted by the prime minister are plying in the city from January 2020. Students of any school can travel any distance in these smart school buses with modern technology for just Tk 5.
Apart from GPS tracker, GIS technology, IP camera, this bus has digital attendance device. When the students push the card, the small message is going to the parents' mobile phones. As a result, parents can be worry-free about their children.
