Use of public transport by school students with special needs in educational zone, Kurunegala.

Abstract

School students are special as passengers; if with special needs, it must be extremely special. In the present research the main objective is to identify issues faced by school students with special needs (SSSN) in using public transport (PT). Other specific objectives are to identify the actions taken by public transport service providers (PTSP) and to make recommendations to provide a safer mode of PT for SSSN. Three Special Education Units in Kurunegala zone were selected; sample group included 34 parents of SSSN who use PT and of 14 PTSP. Interviews were done with parents and PTSP, a focused group discussion was done with parents to confirm all qualitative data. Using PT with low confidence was identified with a belief that PTSP are unable to deal with SSSN fairly among normal passengers. Existing actions of PTSP towards SSSN were limited, negligible and trivial concerns. PTSP must be informed effectively on how to deal with SSSN and related passengers. It’s fair if there’s a possibility to count SSSN and guardian in one cost. As there are many issues on SSSN in PT, all responsible eyes must open with an intention to provide a safer PT to SSSN.