Added burden: Parents to bear the brunt of school van owners’ strike

Schools remind parents of responsibility of ensuring children’s attendance in the wake of any strike


Our Correspondent September 06, 2015
Schools remind parents of responsibility of ensuring children’s attendance in the wake of any strike. PHOTO: ONLINE

KARACHI:


The school van owners' association has decided to go on strike and not ply their vehicles on Tuesday morning. Parents of schoolchildren are likely to bear the brunt of the strike as school managements have said that the call is least likely to affect academic activities.  The strike was earlier planned for today (Monday) but was called off late on Sunday night in view of the Defence Day celebrations. 


Van owners decided to go on strike against the Karachi traffic police's campaign against school buses with substandard Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) cylinders. The crackdown began on Friday.

Traffic DIG Amir Ahmed Shaikh has formed 10 teams under deputy superintendents across the city to ensure the security of schoolchildren who travel in dangerous CNG-run vehicles every day in the metropolis.

Four 'points' were drafted by the traffic police, which the school van owners have to abide by. The colour of all school buses should be yellow, there must be no overloading of students, the bus should have certified CNG cylinders from the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) and there must be an attendant in the van to take care of the younger students.

On Friday, eight school vans were impounded by the traffic police for not having certified CNG cylinders while 48 others were fined for not carrying the label, 'school bus', on them while carrying students.

The chairperson of the van owners' association, Karim Khan, told The Express Tribune that they needed at least two months to get their cylinders tested by HDIP. "We have around 8,000 buses, out of which, 5,000 need to be tested by HDIP," he said, adding that the HDIP only tests 150 buses a day.

He said that it will be pointless to ply their buses on Monday morning if the traffic police plan to impound them. "We won't be able to provide services to the evening-shift students," he said.

When asked why they did not get their buses tested when the traffic police gave them a two-week period in August, he said that, at that time, the traffic police wanted them to convert their vehicles from CNG to petrol or diesel. "Getting certificates from the HDIP was not the issue that time," he said, emphasising that the school bus owners need two months for that.

Meanwhile, the traffic DIG did not respond to repeated calls. However, his reader, Muhammad Idrees, said he has no idea about the strike call from the school van owners association. He said that the traffic police will continue their action against school vans flouting the law.

Perturbed parents

Parents, on the other hand, seemed to be greatly troubled by the strike. Mehrunnisa's two children study in Woodland Secondary School in North Karachi. She said that such strike calls burden the parents. "I am a working lady," she said. "Now, I will have to pick and drop my children."

She appreciated the government's stance about regularising the school vans. However, she thinks that the government should come up with a proper mechanism to deal with the consequences. "The way the government is handling the issue is burdening us," she said.

Ensuring attendance: Schools unmoved by strike call


Most of the school managements were not aware of the school van owners’ strike call and said that the strike will not affect them.


Habib Girls School sports coordinator Muhammad Arshad Siddiqui told The Express Tribune that he was not aware of the strike call. He said that they have already asked their school vans’ owners to get certified CNG cylinders installed. He was of the opinion that it was the responsibility of the parents to bring their children to school if van owners did go on strike. “Our academic activities will not halt due to this strike,” he clarified.

Similarly, a representative of the Beaconhouse School System said that such strike calls do not affect their academic activities.

Meanwhile, Private School Management Association chairperson Sharafus Zaman said that schools will keep functioning as per routine. However, he said, the strike will burden the parents. “They will have to bring their children to schools on their own now,” he said, adding that the strike will affect the attendance of at least 20 per cent of the students. He also urged the government to relax its ongoing operation against school vans and give some time to the owners to get the HDIP certificate.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th,  2015.

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