[1]Chennai: Parents of over 3.5 lakh students travelling in MTC buses have to prepare themselves to shell out a minimum of thousand rupees towards bus fares for the next few months thanks to the lackadaisical attitude shown by school education officials.
For, the process of issuing of bus passes has hit a roadblock due to the inordinate delay caused by school authorities in submitting the list of students to the MTC. Till date, over 1,000 schools have not furnished the details to the corporation.
A senior MTC official told DC on Tuesday that the school officials had not furnished the details sought by the corporation regarding the number of students who would need bus passes for the academic year.
MTC authorities had on May 29 held discussions with the officials of the school education districts that fall in the operational area of the corporation so as to expedite the process. “While giving the list of students who got bus passes last year to school education officials, we asked them to return it after just deleting the names of students who had left their schools.
Only 20 of the 1,200 schools have furnished it till now,” the official said pointing out that printing of bus passes for 80 per cent of the students could have been started by now if they had given it in time.
The remaining 20 per cent comprises students of class 6 and 11, besides those who had shifted to other schools. “We have asked them just to give the photographs of newly admitted students, but they have not responded.”
Despite repeated attempts, school education minister Dr.Vaigaichelvan could not be reached for comments. Recalling last year’s delay in issue of bus passes when MTC was at fault, a parent lamented that they were at the receiving end for no fault of theirs.
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