Strike takes toll on students

Hyderabad: The ongoing RTC employees strike affected attendance in schools and junior colleges across the State as they opened after extended Dasara holidays on Monday.

While this problem was mostly confined to government institutions, private institutions were better off as they have their own transport facilities to ferry students on a daily basis.

With only a limited number of buses plying on the roads and also not on all routes, the fewer buses were fully packed with students.

Similarly, the metro stations and trains were filled with college-going students in the morning and evening as they depended on this mode of transport to reach their colleges.

G Sathish from Telangana Private Degree and Junior Colleges Association stated that attendance was below 20 per cent in their junior and degree colleges on Monday Some of the noted government degree colleges in the State capital also registered an attendance between 30 to 50 per cent on Monday.

Chava Ravi of TS UTF (United Teachers Federation) said that government schools and government residential schools in districts saw less than 50 per cent attendance.

With bus services not fully restored, children who went to their native places for holidays are yet to return to their residential school, he said.

Private schools affiliated to the State board and CBSE did not face similar problems as the attendance was almost full.

Students here mostly go by school buses and private autos every day and as such RTC strike would not impact them.

With no signs of RTC strike to end, students are expected to experience transportation difficulties for some more days.