The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : School ride worries parents

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Thursday, Jun 26, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

School ride worries parents

S. Sandeep Kumar

Many parents concerned over transport charge hike

School buses charge between Rs. 650 and
Rs. 2,000
Auto drivers increase fare from Rs. 600 to
Rs. 850 per month

-.Photo: Mohd Yousuf

In a fix: After paying hefty academic fee, the next big thing for parents is paying for the mode of transport for their children.

Hyderabad: After finalising on a school for admitting their wards, the next issue which parents have to tackle is decide on the mode of transport. And the recent fuel hikes is causing a hole in their pockets whatever transport they choose.

While auto drivers have increased the monthly fare from Rs. 600 to Rs. 850 per child, a majority of school managements have also hiked bus charges by about Rs. 400 per child.

If the advantage with autorickshaws is that they pick children from home and drop them at respective schools, buses pick children from a particular point in a locality and drop them at the same point. But since not many school managements operate enough buses or no buses at all for their students, a majority of parents are forced to opt for autorickshaws or depend on their own vehicles.

“Our child’s auto driver carries six children in his vehicle and till recently we were paying Rs. 600 a month which has been increased to Rs. 800. If we urge him not to carry more than six, he demands an additional Rs. 50 per child, citing increase in fuel prices,” say Mr and Mrs. Kishore Dathani, private sector employees. School managements too have been citing fuel prices and increase in operational costs, including driver’s salary for increasing the monthly bus charges by about Rs. 250 depending on the distance. “It is inevitable,” says Gowtham Model School Principal, Uma Prashanthi. School bus charges in twin cities fluctuate between Rs. 650 and Rs. 2,000 depending on the school. “After paying hefty academic fees, it’s the next big thing,” bemoans Raghu, another parent.

Cost cutting

Parents like Venkatesh Reddy and Smitha Reddy personally drop their children at Secunderabad Public School taking turns, while there are others who are shifting their residence near to their wards school.

“Both our children study in a school at Bowenpally. Paying Rs. 800 as monthly auto fare or Rs. 550 as school bus charge per child does not suit to our budget. We have decided to shift our residence from Marredpally to Bowenpally to save on costs,” says Zafaruddin, a parent. “Many parents are resorting to shift their residence near schools because of increased transportation costs”, testified St. Andrews High School, Vice-principal Urmila Nair. Interestingly, the transport department which monitors school buses and auto-rickshaws functioning like fitness, maintenance and experience of drivers, have any control on the transportation charges fixed either by schools or auto drivers.

“Transport charges are decided between parents and the schools or auto drivers. The Motor Vehicle Act also does not stipulate any fixed charges to be collected,” says Joint Transport Commissioner B. Venkateswarlu.

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Andhra Pradesh