On Tuesday, the scene outside most of the city schools was chaotic. Traffic jams were witnessed in lanes leading up to schools as private school bus operators went on a one-day strike protesting against the new norms in a recent state government circular.
As first reported by DNA, the government has introduced new norms which laid down stricter conditions ensuring safety of schoolchildren during travel.
As private buses and vans plying schoolchildren went off the roads on Tuesday, chaos ruled the city schools. Many parents complained of missing office or taking half-day off, while children kept waiting outside schools for someone to pick them up. Even the attendance was low in city schools.
A huge traffic problem had been created near Sardar Dastoor Boys School near Sadhu Vaswani Chowk due to jam by parents’ vehicles and private autorickshaws. Hundreds of students who usually go home by school bus were being plied through private vehicles leading to the chaos.
A few other schools like Rewachand Bhojwani Academy, St Patrick’s School, and Camp’s St Anne’s Girls School were among those that saw minor traffic snarls.
NS Dixit, the trustee of City International School whose buses are run by a private operator, said that none of the buses were operating. “Yes, the attendance got affected as only those students who are dropped by parents daily or come by autos came to school. We hadn’t kept it mandatory for children coming by school bus to attend school to avoid inconvenience to parents. We gave students homework a day in advance,” he said.
When DNA visited a few schools in Camp and Bund Garden Road areas, traffic jams were seen after school hours.
“We have been waiting since 25 minutes for our parents. They haven’t turned up yet. Usually we come by mini-van but he didn’t come today,” said a student of St Mira’s School. At the lane leading up to St Vincent’s School, there was a huge traffic jam.
“The van driver informed me a day prior and I was very angry. My son is very small and it’s not just a question of dropping him but picking him up too. I cannot depend on anyone and since my husband went to office, I had to take a half day at work today,” complained a resident of Koregaon Park’s North Main Road.
A few city schools declared a ‘voluntary’ holiday owing to the strike fearing students’ safety while travelling. “Our students come from very far-off areas and since all our buses are on contract, we didn’t want to take a chance with students’ safety. If there is stone pelting if we ask buses to run, then who is to blame? So to be safe than sorry and avoid inconvenience to parents, we declared a holiday,” a school’s principal said.
NIBM’s Vibgyor International School had given the day off, confirmed parents. Despite repeated phone calls, principal P Ahluwalia could not be reached for comment. Staffers confirmed that it was a school holiday owing to strike.
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