Students from villages face tough time as RTC buses skip stages

Mahbubnagar: While the State government is urging the public to send their children to government schools, the RTC authorities in some areas are playing a foul game with the lives of poor students in villages.

Some RTC bus drivers fail to stop the buses at the stops, because of which the school students from villages are facing tough time in reaching schools on time. The RTC buses are the only source of free transport for the government school and college students from villages to reach their educational institutions.

However, despite giving free bus passes, the RTC authorities are not stopping the buses at the right points and failing to help in providing transportation to the poor students. "The RTC drivers are acting indifferent to school children.

Instead of helping them reach the schools on time, the RTC drivers are further speeding up the buses as they near the bus stops with school students. This kind of attitude is giving a bad impression on the RTC authorities as they are discouraging the school children from villages to go to schools," said a resident of Koilkonda.

In fact school and college students from Koilkonda and hundreds of villages surrounding this mandal make many up and down trips using RTC buses to reach their schools and colleges in district headquarters, however majority of the students are forced to take up private vehicles as the RTC buses are not stopping at the bus stops.

Not just in Koilkonda, the situation across erstwhile Mahbubnagar district is no different. The RTC authorises have given more than 70,000 free bus passes to school and college students depending up on their age category across Mahbubnagar, Wanaparthy, Gadwal and Narayanpet RTC depots. In Mahbubnagar alone there are over 17,000 free buses passes issued to the students.

"We are urging the RTC authorities to give clear cut instructions to the bus drivers to stop at the bus stops and give access to transportation to the school students. Majority of students are missing prayers and first period in the schools as the RTC is not maintaining proper bus timings.

Sometimes the students reach the bus stop at 8 am and wait till 10 am to get the bus. Because of which we are missing first period and more over we are getting punished by teachers for coming late," said SSC student of Tankara village in Mahbubnagar district.

The people are demanding that the RTC authorities change their attitude and help the school children by providing them access to transportation.