Students ferried like sheep on trucks

BENGALURU: In a shocking incident, a private school here, affiliated to the state board, ferried students on a short trip on goods trucks on Friday. Over 180 students studying in Classes 1 to 9 at Vivekananda Vidyalaya, located in Banashankari, were taken on a short trip to Freedom Park to visit an exhibition.

Despite collecting Rs 50 from each student as entry fee to Freedom Park and assuring parents of taking them in a bus, they were loaded in two separate goods trucks. The trip started around 10.45 am from the school, and ended around 4.30pm.

When the students were brought back to the school, parents, who were waiting to pick up their wards, were shocked, and a verbal fight broke out with school authorities.“I agreed to send my child by trusting that they’d ensure safety. It is inhumane to take kids in a truck all the way to city,” said another parent. Students said that they had questioned teachers about being made to travel by truck, but instead of answers, they were scolded,” said a student.

Another student, in Class 8, said, “The moment I found out about the truck situation, I made my 8-year-old sister stay back at the school. As the trip was not mandatory, I did not want to risk her safety.”School authorities defended their act. Roopa, the headmistress, said, “As the bus we booked did not arrive, we had to take them in trucks. But we took a few of them on the city bus too.” She added that this was not intentional. Six teachers also travelled in the trucks.