Dakshina Kannada has always been considered one of the most sought-after education destinations, especially Mangaluru, which provides quality education in higher and professional courses. Dakshina Kannada district is home to a wide variety of educational institutions which include, schools, engineering, management and hospitality. National Institute of Technology, Surathkal (earlier KREC), among the country’s premier engineering Colleges, located 10 km from Mangaluru. Mangaluru- a prominent city of Dakshina Kannada District well known as the educational hub of Karnataka. Large numbers of well-established schools and Colleges are found here. People from various states of India prefer their children to study in Mangaluru due to quality of education and various other reasons. Mangaluru has seen a lot of development in last few years basically due to increasing educational institutions. Besides, the city is also selected under smart city project. Transport is an essential part of fast developing cities. School buses are an important source of transport for students mainly in metropolitans and small cities. Close to 81% of all employed persons in India make a living by working in the informal sector. Among the five south Asian countries, informalisation is the highest in India and Nepal (90.7%) says a new report by International Labour Organisation (ILO). In the present era of globalisation, service sector in India provides 47% of job opportunities around the world(ILO). Drivers are a major segment of informal sector. School bus drivers are major part of it. This paper studies the problems and perspectives of school bus drivers in Mangaluru Taluk. This study is based on primary data which was collected from 60 school bus drivers of various educational institutions of Mangaluru Talukwith at-least one-year experience in the profession.

KEYWORDS: ILO, Socio-Economic Conditions, Role and Problems, Informal Sector, Mangaluru Taluk.