No transport charges recovery, govt indecision force schools to ground their buses: PSAJK

Srinagar: While welcoming the government decision to reopen the schools from March 01, Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) today said that due to the increased financial burden, all the schools have unanimously decided not to ply their buses.

The Association said that the all the schools in Kashmir are under financial distress due to the situation of last two years. “Our schools have not received majority of fee and regarding transport charges we have had zero collections. On the other hand we continue to pay taxes and incur expenses on maintaining the transport fleet against zero income. This has turned our entire transport sector unviable to operate,” said G N Var president PSAJK. “In such a situation there has been a unanimous decision by all the private educational institutes that they won’t be able to provide the transport facilities to its students.”

The Association also blamed the government indecision towards the issue of school transportation for the situation. “There have been repeated requests to government to take a final decision with regards to transportation fee charged from students. Plus the High Court too had directed the government to take a view on this issue. But till date government has not taken any call on the subject leaving both students and parents in limbo,” said Var. “On the other the schools continue to pay salary of drivers and associated staff, pay taxes, insurance and bank instalments. The recurring costs have been continuous and government has not given any kind of relaxation in taxes or other charges.”

The Association said that it is a reality that both parents and schools have suffered during these trying times but schools had to take a call on the transport facility as this service demands day to day costs to operate. “So for the betterment of all we decided to take the school buses off the roads as the government has least bothered to take any decision,” said Var.

The Association asked the parents of the students to arrange the transport facility for their wards on their own from and towards the schools. “We welcome the opening of schools and will be followed every SOP to keep all the children and staff safe and healthy,” said Var. “But for bringing and taking students from the schools parents should make a suitable arrangements and save themselves from last minute hassle.”