Timings changed due to exams but afternoon school bus runs as usual

Only a handful of students boarded the bus on Monday

WITH the school timings being altered in view of examinations for classes XI and XII in government schools, the common school bus that runs in the afternoon continues to ply on the same time as the CTU claims no directions have been issued to them regarding the changed timings.

"Nobody from the Education Department told us about the changed timings. Even though it is difficult for us to change the bus timings frequently or at such a short notice, had a request been made to us, we would have looked into it," said CTU director T P S Phoolka.

The otherwise overly crowded special school bus, starting at Government Girls Senior Secondary School-18, was a rare sight on Monday as only a handful of students boarded in the afternoon. Even a month after the special school service for government school students began, no return service has been started yet. The only such bus that runs in the afternoon starts at GGSSS-18 and goes up to Zirakpur.

Sub-Inspector Satpal, who is stationed outside the bus stop from 12.30 pm onwards to facilitate the students in boarding the right bus homeward, insists that usually there are around 300 students who travel by bus in the afternoon. "Everyday I see a huge crowd when the special bus comes and around 90 students get inside. However, today there were hardly 20 students as the exams got over at 12 noon and all the students left then, instead of their usual time of 2 pm," he said.

Even as the bus comes directly from the depot with no passengers inside, some students from the nearby schools like DAV Public School, Sector 8, also board the bus from here.

However, officials of the Education Department maintain that the bus is strictly for girls. In the absence of a board indicating that the bus is a special school bus, it is solely the responsibility of the CTU officials to ensure its proper service, and that only girl students from government schools travel inside.

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