Teachers, parents oppose DTC's decision to discontinue providing buses to schools

NEW DELHI: Schools and parents in the national capital have opposed the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)'s decision to stop providing buses to the schools in the city in view of the growing demand of its fleet for public transport in the city. According to transport department officials, the decision was taken earlier by the senior Transport department and DTC officials considering the need for more buses to be pressed for commuters and the schools were informed in advance.

Bharat Arora, general secretary of the Action Committee of Private Unaided Schools, said many of its affiliated schools rely on DTC buses to transport students. "We have requested Delhi government to restore the DTC bus service for private schools on priority. It is a challenging situation as schools do not have surplus funds to purchase new buses," Arora said.

The DTC in September last year had written to the schools as well as Delhi Police expressing its inability to provide buses for their needs. However, it had continued providing buses to the police and paramilitary for deployment across the security as an emergency service. Delhi currently has over 7200 public transport buses including 3912 run by the DTC and 3293 Cluster buses run by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System(DIMTS). As per official estimates, the city requires 11000 buses to meet its public transport needs. The schools and parents had opposed the decision of withdrawing the buses. The schools had also challenged it in Delhi High Court that had questioned the DTC for its decision.

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The principal of a noted school said they have been affected by the decision but refused to comment further saying "the matter is subjudice". "This is not a good move by Delhi Government. During and after the COVID many families are facing financial problem and by removing DTC bus facilities from the schools is going to add extra financial burden on parents," said Aparajitha Gautam, President, Delhi Parents Association. "In case school can not arrange the transport, parents have to pick and drop their children which is not feasible for all parents," he added.

On one hand, the condition of a vehicle is an important aspect of safety and security of students and with DTC, schools have been on the receiving end. Most of the DTC buses are quite old, and abrupt breakdown is a regular issue that is worrisome for all, said Alka Kapur, the principal of Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh. "On the other hand, there is evidently a concern for schools which have limited funds. They can't purchase the required number of vehicles immediately and until they arrange the vehicles their students will be facing the problem," she said.

The Delhi High Court had noted that the "decision to discontinue the DTC bus service for private school students would have an adverse effect on everybody as it impinged on the right to a clean environment. The High Court noted that besides causing trouble to parents and students, the withdrawal order was also adding to traffic woes on the roads". The matter would be heard next on August 3.