When dreams died young

April 16, 2008: 41 children — aged between 13 and 15 — died when the bus they were travelling in plunged into the Narmada Canal in Bodeli, 180 km from Ahmedabad. The children were on their way to appear for their annual examination.

April 2, 2008: A 13-year-old boy was killed and 35 students of the Delhi Public School in Ahmedabad were injured when their bus overturned while trying to overtake a truck.

January 28, 2008: In Mumbai, four children were killed and eight injured when the Maruti van they were travelling in caught fire after the vehicle’s CNG cylinder exploded. The children were students of Millat School, Jogeshwari.

January 25, 2008: Three schoolchildren were killed and 15 injured on a foggy morning when their school bus collided with a truck in Punjab’s Nawanshahr district. The bus belonged to Saint Joseph’s School in Nawanshahr and collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction on the national highway crossing the town.

December 14, 2007: Six schoolchildren were among 17 killed when a bus carrying students and teachers smashed into the gate of a level crossing and collided with the Sutluj Express near Moga in Punjab.

December 4, 2007: Two primary schoolchildren died and another was seriously injured when a tractor ran over them at Aangu village near Purushottampur in Orissa. The children were on their way to the local school when the tractor hit them.

July 9, 2007: One student died and 24 were injured when a Kendriya Vidyalaya school bus turned turtle near Karkardooma in Delhi. The bus driver was speeding.

June 14, 2007: Six schoolchildren of Namkum near Ranchi in Jharkhand were killed when lightning struck the school classroom.

April 28, 2004: Six children were killed and 24 injured when a school bus hit the Inter-City Express at an unmanned level crossing near Banarhat tea gardens...