H-8 college students lament lack of transport

ISLAMABAD:

Students at the Islamabad Model Postgraduate College H-8, one of the oldest colleges in the city, have complained about paying high fares to travel to the college via private transport because the college lacks sufficient buses to cater to all of its pupils.

Officials at the college said that as many as 800 students of the college apply for the transport facility aboard the buses owned by the college. However, the official said that the buses they have can only accommodate some 200 students aboard their three buses while the remaining 600 students have to manage their commute to and from the college either through private or public transport or a combination of both.

However, many students complained that travelling to college via local transport options daily was an expensive and often unaffordable option.

Officials said that buses lying at many junior schools are useless because a majority of students enrolled at these schools live close to the school and their parents drop and pick them either in their vehicles or even on foot.

Others parked the buses because they do not have drivers and conductors to operate them.

The source said the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) can resolve the issue by handing over idle buses to colleges such as H-8.

"I have applied for availing college bus facility for my son several times but the administration keeps turning down my request citing the shortage of buses," he lamented.

Sector H-8 college transport in charge said that they cater to postgraduate students as well but they have just three buses. The official said the college needs at least five new buses just to overcome its transportation issue.

When contacted, a FDE official said that they have devised two solutions.

The immediate solution is to run these buses on a cost-sharing basis with the assigned school or college.

Under the long-term plan, the FDE has moved two parallel cases to the federal finance ministry to take up the matter of creating the posts of drivers and conductors in educational institutions of the capital and to enhance the allocation to schools and colleges to meet the resultant transport expenditures.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2020.