Soon, free bus rides to school for slum children

With an aim of arresting trend of drop-outs in PMC-run schools, especially at the kindergarten level, civic body and PMPML are all set to finalise a deal to allot 100 buses for the purpose.The civic body wants to give an impetus to slum children to start going to school

In order to curb the dropout rate at civic-run schools, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Education Board has tied up with the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) to provide free transport to children from slums, especially students who are enrolled in preprimary classes, from the next academic year.

Ameeting between the officials of PMC Education Board and the PMPML will be held next week to finalise the deal that has been discussed for the last few months. The PMPML is likely to allot 100 buses in different slots across 18 areas in the city identified by the Board.

Recently, all the 319 PMC-run schools had initiated the project of enrolling children from neighbourhood slums after it was found that transport has been the major hurdle for students from underprivileged families. So far, more than 10,000 children have been enrolled. During the last academic year, the number of school dropouts had exceeded 3,000.

To deal with this, the Board had launched Patsankhya Vadh Abhiyaan (enrollment elevation initiative). According to the Board and PMC school teachers, one of the reasons for poor strength at PMC-run kindergarten schools was found to be the lack of a transport facility. “Most of the students hail from underprivileged families and reside in slums.

Their parents cannot afford private transport on a daily basis. They either walk their wards to school or commute by the PMPML bus,” said Pradip Dhumal, chairperson, PMC Education Board. Besides this, dropping and picking up their children from school every day means a tightrope walk for their parents.

“Their jobs pose a great challenge for them to stick to the school timings and fulfill their responsibility,” Dhumal added. Auto driver Prakash Renuse, whose four-year-old son Amol goes to a PMC-run school in Shivajinagar, said, “Since I have to come to drop and pick my son up, it affects my work adversely.

At times, I simply don’t have the time to drop him and he ends up missing school. We were told that the school would provide transport service, but that has not started so far.” While security guard Raghunath Jadhav’s night shifts have affected the attendance of his three-year-old daughter Ishwari at school.

“My wife works as a maid in a hospital. I am entrusted with the responsibility of dropping and picking up our daughter from the school. But due to my night shift, I have not been able to regularly drop her to school. ” Jadhav said if the transport service gets functional, it would ensure that his daughter gets education and that she does not drop out.

Hailing the move, S N Dange, principal, Savitribai Phule School in Bhavani Peth, said, “If the initiative works out, it will give the PMC school administration a structured and organised way of operation.” Ashwini Yadav, principal, Mata Ramabai Ambedkar School, Khadki, said, “Although some students have subscribed to autos, the safety of students is at stake as they are crammed. Buses are surely the better option.”

Prashant Jagtap, director, PMPML, said, “The plan will be finalised next week. This will be followed by detailed planning of the area mapping, safety checks and recruitment of reliable drivers and guards. The demand for 100 buses will be complied with.”