Govt to check free cycle misuse

Following complaints of misuse of bicycles distributed free to high school students, the state government has entrusted physical education teachers across Karnataka with monitoring their use. To ensure that students use bicycles every day to reach schools, teachers have to mark the attendance twice a week starting from July.

According to a circular issued by the Department of Primary and Secondary Education, the responsibility is specifically assigned to physical education teachers. In case the school does not have PE teachers, headmasters have to assign the duty to any other general subject teacher in the school.

Sources in the education department revealed to DH that the decision comes in the wake of several complaints that these cycles were being used to ferry water, fodder and other purposes rather than for commuting to school. “In some cases, parents were found using these cycles, forcing kids to either walk or go by buses,” a BEO from Chitradurga district pointed out.

According to the order, a copy of which is with DH, “Attendance needs to be marked twice a week preferably on Monday and Saturday. The attendance will be marked based on the total number of bicycles distributed in that school and the total number of students present on that day,” explained a senior official. Further, teachers have been asked to mark the attendance on random days since students would bring cycles if they know which days the checks are done.

“If kids are aware that attendance is marked only on Monday and Saturday, they will bring cycles only on those days. If any student fails to get the cycle to the school, the headmaster will be intimated and parents will be summoned to the school to explain the reason,” the official clarified. If the student regularly fails to get the cycle, the department will be informed. The department will even consider withdrawing the facility to children who misuse the cycle.

Further, parents must submit an undertaking to schools that bicycles will be used only by children to commute between school and home and will not be used for any other purpose. The government has also asked schools to mention the name and class of the beneficiary students.