After a long wait, schools have reopened and students are finally able to attend physical classes, but reaching the school campus is proving to be a tough task for many, especially those in nuclear families or with working parents. While offline classes have resumed, transportation facilities are yet to be fully restored with some schools yet to deploy complete fleet of busses.
The problem is compounded by the fact that supplementary transportation, including shared autos, are not allowed to operate at full capacity due to Covid-19 restrictions. Even in case of schools that have renewed transportation contracts with third-party transporters and allowed busses to run, the fee has gone up.
Swati Chhabra, a Chandigarh-based single mother, drops her young daughter on her way to work at a classmate’s house. The father of the classmate carpools both girls to school. Swati earlier used to send her daughter to school via the school bus.
Talking to News18.com she said, “With my office reopening, I have no one to drop my daughter off to school. She used to go by bus but the bus service has not been resumed by the school. It would have been better if she attended online classes but her exams are approaching and she needs the assistance of a teacher. I have no other option but to take favours from her classmate’s parents.”
Swati is not the only one. Many parents, especially with children in primary classes, have questioned the timing of schools being reopened. Kirti Sehgal from Jalandhar is a homemaker and doesn’t drive. She, too, has opted for carpooling for her son.
Neha, mother of a Class 2 student in Ludhiana, said that she had to buy a winter uniform for only a few weeks as with the weather changing she will have to buy the summer uniform again and the winter uniform will not fit her child the next year.
“Schools should have considered such issues before reopening,” she said.
For Neha, transportation is not much of an issue as her businessman husband drops off their daughter.
Transport has by far remained one of the persistent issues for parents of school-going kids across India. Schools, however, claim that offering transportation to all, that too at earlier prices, will not be possible due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
“Many schools are unwilling to provide transport facility, keeping the Covid safety protocols of social distancing in mind. If the occupancy in buses is reduced to half the capacity, it will not be possible to meet the running cost, that of maintenance and driver’s and conductor’s salary. Hence, it’s financially not viable. Most schools have outsourced the buses and vans and it makes little sense to renew the contract for a month before this academic session ends. However, schools that have their own vehicles, have restored transport, subject to written consent from parents,” explains Poonam Kochitty, Principal, Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Lucknow.
Many schools are willing to renew contracts with transporters. However, they claim that it is the parents who are unwilling to pay a higher fee for the same service.
Viny Raj Modi, Vice-President, Association of Un-Aided Private Schools, Madhya Pradesh told News18, “Many schools have increased their fee of Rs 1,200 per month to Rs 2,000 per month and many parents are not willing to bear the extra cost. Schools that are already under burden due to the pandemic are neither in condition to bear the cost nor are the transporters ready to decrease fee. Transporters were one of the first to be dropped by schools due to the pandemic as these are third party and maintenance, service etc were heavy costs for schools at that time. Transporters who have faced losses also want relief.”
Praveen Raju, Co-Chair, FICCI ARISE and Founder of Suchitra Academy says that the government should extend support to schools in this matter as well as in other teething issues as schools are being reopened. “Many schools have suffered serious losses due to EMI payments, drivers’ and cleaners’ salaries, insurance etc. With uncertainty on when Covid cases may increase, schools are reluctant to restart transportation by paying taxes, renewing contracts with contractors. It is important to note that there has been absolutely no support from the government.”
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