20 years of struggle ends as quarry area children get school bus

Navi Mumbai: For 20 years, the children of quarry workers, rag pickers, domestic helps and others from Bonsari village have been walking, along with their mothers, to Dr SV Samant Vidyalaya — their school located four kilometres away in the nodal area of Turbhe

Navi Mumbai: For 20 years, the children of quarry workers, rag pickers, domestic helps and others from Bonsari village have been walking, along with their mothers, to Dr SV Samant Vidyalaya — their school located four kilometres away in the nodal area of Turbhe. A few have been taking autorickshaw, which costs around ₹800 a month for each child, a princely amount for these daily wage workers.

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The distance, the fare and the time it takes to drop a child at school, has discouraged many parents and has led to students dropping out.However, all that is expected to change now.

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT), with help from NGO Stree Mukti Sanghatana (SMS), have made a huge difference to the lives of these children and their parents by starting a special bus service to the school for the students.

The bus takes students from their area to the school and back. There is a service in the morning for the secondary school students, from standard fifth, whose classes begin at 7 am. They come back at noon by the bus, which then takes the primary school students to return at 5.30 pm. The students have to pay just half the fare and even that is expected to reduce as NMMT is planning to issue them a monthly concession pass.

Vrushali Magdum, who heads SMS, said, “We have been working with the women, who pick waste, for the last two decades and have formed self-help groups (SHG) for them. The area has no bus service, a school or a clinic. These are uneducated women but they want their children to get education. That’s why we started evening tuitions and computer classes for them.”

She added, “For the last two decades, the children here have been facing the problem of how to go to school. Several women have to take their kids on foot to the school and pick them up daily losing out on their working time. There are several instances of kids missing school as their mothers don’t take them on the day.”

She added, “Some send their kids by autorickshaw, but that becomes a costly affair and worsens for those with more than one child.”

Magdum said, “Sriram Radhakrishnan Memorial Trust has for the past five years been paying the auto fare of several children and this has helped ensure that they did not drop out of school.”

She stated, “We, however, felt there should be a permanent solution. We must ensure that not just these children but others, too, start going to school. The number of families has increased here over the years. We started with three SHGs, which have now increased to eight. We want all the children of the area to go to school.”

SMS prepared a list of 88 children, from the area, studying in the school and approached NMMT general manager Yogesh Koduskar, to start a bus service from the area exclusively for the students.

According to Magdum, “Koduskar responded positively and immediately sent assistant transport superintendent Dharmraj Bhagat for survey. Our volunteers Meenakshi Wangnekar and Meenal Jadhav helped him in the survey of the area.”

Magdum said, “NMMT started the bus service this week which is a historic moment for us women and we are very happy about it and thankful to NMMT.”

The children and their parents are jubilant. Sixteen-year-old Nitin Dhurunder said, “Earlier, many of us took autorickshaw to school and so, would often be late. Our sir would punish us and make us stand outside the class. We missed studies also due to it. Now, the bus gets us there in time and we reach together.”

Sixteen-year-old Pradnya Damodar said, “I used to get up early to be in time for school yet would be late as the auto driver would come late. Besides, the autorickshaw would leave us at some distance from the school and we would have to walk further. The bus takes us right to the school.”

According to 15-year-old Prince Damodar, “We have faced a lot of scolding from our teachers. The autorickshaw was also cramped with students, making it difficult for us. Now there is enough space for us all in the bus to sit comfortably.”

She added, “We are poor people. Some parents were forced to send their children to school on foot. Others had to pay ₹800 per month, per child, which we really can’t afford it. Those like us, who have more than one child, face even more problems. Every rupee matters to us. This bus is a God-sent relief for us.”

Another parent Maya Damodar said, “With the start of the bus service, several people who did not send their children to school due to the high cost will start sending them. SMS has also started tuitions in our area, which will help us further in educating our children.”

Koduskar said, “NMMT is committed to promoting education among all sections of the society and so, we decided on supporting this endeavour to ensure that these children have easy access to their school. We are hopeful that this service will ensure more children from the area, take up education.”