E-Paper
Licence please...
The teeny boppers' zoom brigade around town couldn't care less. Not eighteen, but they see driving a motorcycle or scooter to school (and college) a style statement. So, while parents indulge their children, school managements look askance. Apparently, at least.
The teeny boppers' zoom brigade around town couldn't care less. Not eighteen, but they see driving a motorcycle or scooter to school (and college) a style statement. So, while parents indulge their children, school managements look askance. Apparently, at least.
La Martiniere Boys and St Dominic are just two schools that have explicit rules disallowing students to drive two-wheelers with gears to school. Several other educational institutions, including the renowned ones, however, allow their students to drive two-vehicles with gears or, even cars, to school and college with instructions that students wear helmets and possess a valid driver's licence. It is another matter that students not yet 18 would surely have obtained this 'valid' driver’s licence illegally!
Most school managements wash their hands off the whole affair by asking students to park vehicles outside the school premises! At least four such schools are in the heart of the city. Principals of these schools say it's the prerogative of the parents to ensure that their children are not using a vehicle they are not licenced to drive. Incidentally, one of these schools, in Cantonment area, shifted its parking stand outside the school premises only after there was trouble with the local administration.
Not just licences, schools don't bother much about the parking hassles. One school has made provision for parking of vehicles by students on the road outside. Another, has converted a drain in trans-Gomti area to parking space.
This way, the school managements are not 'responsible' for how the students commute to school.
Rashmi Prasad, mother of La Martiniere Class XI student Achal, says, "All schools should have strict guidelines about vehicles. Most often, some schools are lenient when it comes to driving and other children want to drive a bike because of peer pressure. Parents relent when the child insists too much or, just coaxes them into it."
Smart alecs
But discipline at school seems to be hardly any deterrent for several. Some students have found a way out any way. They park their geared vehicles in government parking lots and then, walk to school. For example, La Martiniere boys park 'disallowed' vehicles at Civil Hospital parking lot on Park Road or, at the Golf Club. Christ Church College students find parking at the General Post Office (GPO). St Francis College park their vehicles in Nagar Nigam parking outside school.
CO (Traffic) Madhuban Singh says as these licences are issued by ARTO we can hardly question the validity of these lisences. "We are planning a traffic awareness drive from October to December. Along with the SP (Traffic), we will try to coordinate with all city schools to improve parking and kids driving vehicles they are not licensed to.”
