Strike's end brings relief to parents

CHANDIGARH: Parents of schoolchildren heaved a sigh of relief, with the four-day-long strike by schoolbus operators in the city being called off on Monday. The decision took effect after a meeting of the Independent Schools Association with private schoolbus operators on Monday evening.
From adopting car-pooling to taking leave from their offices, parents were having a tough time picking and dropping their children at schools.Traffic snarls added to their woes.
School authorities had become restless too, making special arrangements ranging from asking teachers to leave after all children had left to deploying staff for accompanying students to their cars and also helping them cross roads after their dispersal.
Kavita Nandra, who works in a private bank, said, ���The last few days have been exhausting for my husband and me. My children are in different schools, so while my husband used to come all the way from Mohali to Sector-26 to pick up our daughter form Sacred Heart School, I used to go to Sector-46 to pick my son from Ryan International School.���
Relieved by the decision, even school authorities are breathing easy, pre-occupied as they have been with making special arrangements to reduce chaos during school closure hours.
Talking on the problems faced by schools, Daman Duggal, principal of Vivek High School, said, ���Though we had staggered timings for junior and senior wings of students, chaos persisted. Hence, keeping in view the comfort of students and their parents, we deployed our employees at the gates during the closure time who ensured that students crossed roads properly.���
According to housewife Preeti Walia, this decision comes as a huge respite for all, especially working parents, who have been managing their offices apart from meeting needs of their children.
Vrinda Kapoor, who received an SMS from school authorities informing her about calling off of the strike, said, ���I am relaxed today as I earlier had to wait for another two hours after picking my younger child from kindergarten in Strawberry School for the elder one, who is in a higher class.���
���A total of 630 vehicles are registered with the department, out of which, 520 vehicles are either LTVs or MTVs. Only 110 vehicles fall in the category of HTVs, for which Rs 5,000 per annum is charged as against Rs 24,000 levied in Punjab and Haryana. In case of LTVs and MTVs, the permit fee is Rs 124 per annum as compared to Rs 12,000 in Punjab and Haryana,��� said STA secretary Vandana Disodia.