Parents in Pune struggle to transport children to schools as pvt transporters await govt’s nod

Pune: The parents of Class 5 to 8 students are left with no choice but to drop and pick up their wards from schools as the state government has allowed offline classes of primary school to restart, but not okayed autorickshaws, school vans and buses to resume transportation of school students

Pune: The parents of Class 5 to 8 students are left with no choice but to drop and pick up their wards from schools as the state government has allowed offline classes of primary school to restart, but not okayed autorickshaws, school vans and buses to resume transportation of school students.

Parents drop their children at Huzurpaga girls school in Katraj, Pune, on Thursday. Many parents have requested authorities to resume transport services of autorickshaws, vans and buses. (RAHUL RAUT/HT)

Parents have to reschedule their office timings and other professional responsibilities to meet the school timings as absence from classes on school campuses is impacting the attendance of students.

“Since the school resumed offline classes from last week, I could adjust my office timings to drop my son, who is in Class 6, to school and later pick him up from the campus. However, later on it became difficult for us as his school starts at 12.30 pm and my husband and I both have to reach our workplace by 10 am. As the authorities have not yet allowed autorickshaws to resume ferrying kids, our “kaka” cannot drop or pick up our son from school as he used to do all these years,” said Sangeeta Mantri.

Many working parents who depend on private transport vehicles for pick and drop of their school-going kids have demanded the authorities to restart autorickshaw, school van and bus services immediately for transportation of children.

“We have asked the union transport ministry, state transport department and local RTO office to give some relief to school van and bus transporters who have suffered financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, there need to be some guidelines to start the service, as there are already many rules and regulations for school buses regarding safety measures, bus attendant and with driver. As the number of students attending schools is limited now, the ferrying charges will be high and beyond the reach of some parents. Hence, the government should immediately interfere in the issue and give us a solution,” said Kiran Desai, executive president, Pune bus owners’ association.

Bappu Bhave, president, Pune Vidyarthi Vahtuk Sanghatana said, “We are ready to restart our services as auto drivers also want to transport school children. We are yet to get any clear guidelines from the state government and even schools are not allowing us to restart the service. Our auto drivers daily get calls from parents to restart the transportation service, but we are helpless as we cannot take a decision without the approval from the transport department.”