415 educational institutions have only 162 buses for 210,000 students * Public transport employees misbehave with students g Women face the worst situation

ISLAMABAD: Students in the federal capital are facing transport problems as most of educational institutions have no proper transport facilities. This misery is magnified for those who come from suburbs in overflowing public transport vehicles suffering from maltreatment by drivers and conductors.

A Daily Times investigation finds that there are about public sector 415 educational institutions operating in the city, accommodating over 210,000 students with a total of 162 buses, most of them out of order, that are quite insufficient.

A large number of students come from out of the city and reach their respective schools and colleges on private transport, where conductors ill-treat them.

It is estimated that over 70 percent students are forced to rely on the mercy of private transporters. Female staff and teachers are in a thick soap because Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has failed to arrange separate buses for them.

Hashim Raza, a student, said school/college buses plied only on specific routes while a majority of students lived off these routes. “Ultimately they have to travel on public transport. It’s one of the big problems for all those who come from out station,” he said.

Obaidur Rehman, a student, said due to financial problems, he couldn’t pay full bus fare while transporters were reluctant to allow tickets to students on reduced rates.

Lalarukh Farooq, a student, said girl students particularly had to wait longer to find a seat in public transport due to which they often got late from school or college. She demanded of the authorities to provide sufficient buses for female students.

Parents complained of rash driving of school and college buses. They said very few institutions cared for safety of children by closely monitoring the attitude of bus drivers. A few institutions had pick and drop facility for students and others had not, they said.

They said private vans were charging Rs 2,000 per child whereas school buses took Rs 1,200 per child. “If a family has three or four school going children, it will have to pay Rs 6,000-7,000 transport charges in addition to already bulging school fees, which is unjust,” they said.

Masood Zaman, father of two college going boys, said because of lack of transport facilities, a number of children opted to hang onto rear or side grills of buses or travel on rooftops, which was a constant threat to their lives. “Neither government nor private authorities have taken any step to arrange for students to travel safely,” Masood said, adding scuffles between boy students and conductors had become a routine matter.

Zahoor Ahmed, driver of a private transport bus, said students had annoyed them a lot. “They plainly refuse to pay fare or show any identity card to prove they are students. Ultimately, it ends into brawls,” he said. He appealed to the government to arrange transport facilities for students.Daily times