Even three months after the reopening of schools, the wait for free bus pass continues for the students of government and private schools. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC ) officials say they are awaiting orders from the Transport Department in Chennai to print the passes.
The TNSTC had earlier promised to issue bus passes by July-end. The Hindu reported on June 4 that the TNSTC was keen on finishing the process as early as possible.
Chief Education Officer R. Murugan had then said that until students get new bus pass, they could travel for free in buses if they were in their uniform or if they had their old bus pass with them.
However, this has not been the case, says district secretary of Tamil Nadu High Higher Secondary School Graduate Teachers Association T. Arulanandam. Students still face difficulties as some bus conductors refuse to accept the old bus pass and force students to buy tickets.
“There is an instruction [from TNSTC] to allow students if they are wearing uniform, yet there are problems in some places,” he says. Students shifting to new schools for Standards VI, IX and XII and those who change residential address in the past year are also facing difficulties. These students cannot show their old bus pass, as the address change involves a change in the bus route.
“Bus conductors generally allow students in uniform to travel in buses. Some conductors tend to be rigid, so I offer money for the ticket fare over fear that my son might be forced to alight the bus,” says V. Sivakumar, whose son is studying in Standard XI at the Government Higher Secondary School in Pichanur. “It results in additional expenditure for us,” he adds.
Meanwhile, the CEO says he is not aware of the delay in issuance of bus passes, as he had not received any complaints from schools regarding this issue.
Mr. Arulanandam claims that the Education Department officials have no idea on when the new bus passes will be issued.
While conceding that there has been a delay in issuing bus passes, a TNSTC official said that the conductors generally allow the students to travel for free. “After we received complaints from parents and teachers, we had sent circulars to the branch managers to allow school students in buses. Now the problem has been sorted out,” the official says.
This is a problem that has also hit the private school students, according to president of Pollachi Private Schools’ Welfare Association R. Lakshmananasamy. “Students do not like to travel in government buses, as they have to wait in long queues to collect passes,” he says and blames “administrative lapse” for the delay in issuance of bus passes.
The issue comes at a time when private schools are encouraging usage of public transport among students, Mr. Lakshmananasamy says. “Unless schools collect reasonable amount of money from parents, they cannot operate school buses as it is expensive. Lack of bus pass forces parents to opt for private vans compromising on the safety of their children”, he says.
According to a District Education Officer, TNSTC had asked for details of all students studying in a school, as opposed to those who had opted for free passes. In a similar fashion to the smart cards issued to the students recently, the bus passes might also be linked to Education Management Information System (EMIS), where a database of the students is being maintained and this might delay the process, the officer says.
Meanwhile, the TNSTC official clarifies that there are plans to link bus passes with EMIS, but it will not be done this year.
Accepting that the TNSTC has asked for the details of all students, the official says that this was to ensure that all students, even those who may opt for it in the future, get the bus pass. “We have gathered and verified details from over one lakh students across Coimbatore district this year. About 50 schools are yet to provide the details of the students. Once the order comes from Chennai [Transport Department], we will print the bus passes and distribute it within a week,” the official adds.