Rising fuel prices may drive up school bus fees, parents concerned

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With fuel prices rising across the country, parents and educators alike are looking at the possible impacts it may have on the school ecosystem. Schools in Maharashtra are scheduled to reopen after the summer break in June.

School bus authorities in the state are and are anticipating a hike in the fees charged. "We cannot say how much the rise may be since the hike in the fuel is being observed week on week. However, if there is more than a Rs 5 rise in the costs, then we may have to proportionally increase the bus fees," said Anil Garg, president of the Mumbai School Bus Association.

In the meantime, the stakeholders are also eyeing various ways to avoid this, be it limiting schools to a single shift instead of morning and afternoon batches or alternating between online and offline classes. "Just like we paid our school bus drivers during the pandemic, we will have to ensure that the salaries are disbursed this time too, no matter what the arrangement," Garg added.

‘We have been preparing'

Parallelly, a few schools state that they have already been preparing for such scenarios since April. "We have been weighing out our options, be it hybrid schooling or online systems. We understand that dropping off and picking up students may turn out to be expensive for parents who use personal transport too," said Revathi Srinivasan, director, Singhania Schools.

Official Speak

With the schools beginning in June, school bus and parents' committees are yet to have crucial meetings regarding the changes. "Most of the parents and school staffers are away on vacation, so no formal meetings or communication is being held about the issue thus far. However, things may begin taking shape in the first week of June," said Shahid Shaikh, member of the Mumbai Bus Malak Sanghatana.

With the academic year approaching, several parents are already incurring expenses on stationery, textbooks, and other academic materials. "Parents already have enough worries, so the next steps about the fee hike must be thought through. The situation is still pre-emptive, so we will have to wait for things to unfold. Meanwhile, higher education departments have already begun preparing for hybrid situations," said Arundhati Chavan, president of PTA United Forum and educationist.