Transport strike: Several pvt schools to remain shut

NEWDELHI:SEVERAL private schools across the National Capital Region said they would remain closed on Thursday in view of the strike announced by transporters to protest against the hefty penalties imposed under the amended Motor Vehicles Act.

Cluster and private buses, auto-rickshaws, a section of appbased cabs, trucks, grameen sevas and school vans will be off road on Thursday.

Private schools such as The Shriram Millennium School, Apeejay School , and Shiv Nadar School in Noida, Bal Bharati Public School in Ganga Ram Hospital Marg, Mount Abu Public School in Rohini, and Modern Public School in Shalimar Bagh have declared a holiday on Thursday.

Some schools have also decided to postpone exams scheduled for Thursday.

“We informed students in the classroom today (Wednesday) and later through text messages that classes will not be held on September 19. Though our school has some buses, we mostly depend on private buses. The private bus owners had conveyed to us earlier that they won’t be plying on Thursday,” said Laksh Vir Sehgal, principal of Bal Bharati Public School, Ganga Ram Hospital Marg.

A few decided to extend their preparatory leaves.

Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School, Rohini, said, “We have preparatory leaves for students from Class 4 to 12. Now, we have decided to keep the school closed for Class 1 to 3 as well, because if we keep the school open for three classes, we have to merge routes for school buses to accommodate students who take private buses,” she said.

Amita Wattal, principal of Springdales School in Pusa Road, however, said that the school will remain open on Thursday. “Most of our students come on their own and that’s why we will hold classes Thursday,” she said. Evergreen School in Vasundhra Enclave will also be open on Thursday as will Amity International

Delhi has around 95,000 registered autos

Private buses including cluster buses (1,704), school buses (3,610), chartered buses. At least 24,000 buses are registered in Delhi

Including those under app-based cab aggregators. There are 1,38,574 registered cabs in Delhi

3,729 in Delhi 673 DTC buses and Delhi Metro will run as usual

Schools across NCR.

A spokesperson of Amity International Schools, Noida, said, “Our school buses will operate normally. We have requested parents using private transportation to make alternate arrangements for their kids.”

Bharat Arora, general secretary of the action committee of unaided private schools, said, “Most of schools have announced an off due to strike of transporters or due to preparatory leaves. The strike will see participation from school vans as well and a lot of children come to school in these vans. Even if schools are kept open, the attendance will be thin.” Most of the schools in Ghaziabad will remain shut.