The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : No entry for students

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Friday, Jul 11, 2008
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Kerala - Kochi

No entry for students

M.P. Praveen

Private buses are reluctant to allow student travellers

KOCHI: T.P. Remesh Mohan still shudders at the thought of that profusely bleeding student. The youngster’s limb got severed after a private bus mowed him down and he had almost died on Mr. Mohan’s lap.

He was a teacher at the Government High School, Edathala, in front of which the incident took place almost two decades ago. The student later died at the Medical Trust Hospital.

Mr. Mohan, who is now the Principal of S.R.V. High School, relived that agony when a 17-year-old student of Darul Uloom School died in the city last week owing to the undue haste of the private bus employees.

Running behind private buses, the employees of which literally abhor at the sight of students, to reach school on time has become a daily ritual for thousands of students in the city.

Even before he steps into the school, Ananthu’s well-ironed uniform is wet with sweat and looks worn out. It is this very uniform that is the nemesis for him and many of his ilk. “On seeing our uniform the buses either speed past the bus stop or stop well short of it,” says Ananthu, a ninth standard student from Eloor.

At last when a bus stops, getting inside is equally arduous. “The bus is on the move even as we are getting in or out,” Abhijeet, a ninth standard student at SRV High School, says about his daily journey from Thoppumpady.

Yousuf, a Plus One student at Cardinal Higher Secondary School, Thrikkakkara, says that trying to get into a moving bus carrying a fully loaded bag is a dangerous task.

More dangerous is the tendency of the door checkers to push the students while they get down even as the bus is on the move. Rahul, a student of St. Thomas – a private college – says that he has now become used to such a ‘helping hand.’

Inside the bus what the students have to face is nothing short of humiliation. And the source for this is most often the travel concession they are entitled to.

Girls not spared

Even girls are not spared. Last Friday two Plus Two students at the Government’s Girls Higher Secondary School were almost reduced to tears as the conductor of a bus operating on the Eloor route publicly insulted them using abusive language.

“Since the conductor began to shout and other passengers started to notice we paid the full fare. Even afterwards he kept on screaming and refused to return the students’ fare we paid earlier,” they said on condition of anonymity.

They lodged a complaint with the Principal of their school who had since then forwarded it to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and the women’s cell of police.

Abhi, a student of Punnakkal Government High School, Elamakkara, says that very often the balance of the ticket fare is not returned. And sometimes even the ticket itself is denied.

That students are not entitled to a seat in the bus has almost become an unwritten rule. We are forced out of the seats often with comments like – you have been sitting the whole day – says Antony, an eighth standard student at St. Albert’s High School.

Rajesh Vennala, a former University Union Councillor from St. Albert’s College, who now runs a private tuition centre, says that the internal marks system has ensured that students think twice before engaging in anything other than academics. “They are scared that protests of any sorts would deprive them of valuable internal marks,” he says.

Mr. Rajesh says that had the accident that took the life of a student happened during his academic days the culprits would have been brought to their knees instantaneously owing to spontaneous protests by students’ organisations.

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