JOIN USWith private van drivers’ union resolute in its stance and the strike entering the second day, anxious parents hardpressed to reach their wards to respective schools on time, had no choice but resort to car pooling.
Thanks to car pooling, attendance across the schools turned out to be normal with the children being ferried to their schools, lest they be ticked off for absence and asked to make up for any shortfall later on. With 60 to 70 per cent of parents, whose children study in Bishop Cotton Girls’ School taking to private car pool service, the school, which has on rolls around 3,000 students, saw that the strike did not have any impact on the number of students attending classes.
According to School Principal Rev Father Clifford Sequeira S J, with a sizeable number of children using car pool, it did not affect their commuting to school. “Coincidently, we have an annual general meeting tomorrow (June 21) because of which half day has been declared. This will enable parents to take their children back early and hopefully by Monday normalcy will return,” he said.
Likewise, at Fuscos Bangalore School, Indiranagar, which did not see any sizeable fall in student attendance. However, a lot of chaos and traffic jams near the school saw a few students reporting late to school. At Sacred Heart’s School, while sizeable number of students rely on services of private car pools, they, however, faced some difficulty in returning home on time due to disruption in their routines. No major absences were witnessed.
Owing to traffic congestion, number of students were picked up late. At Sacred Heart High School, children were seen using school phone to frantically call their parents to pick them up. At St Joseph’s Boys High School, students, who would otherwise be picked up by private vans were observed asking office bearers to call up their parents.