A day of chaos everywhere

A day of chaos everywhere

Deccan Herald


Schools opened to chaos on Wednesday morning, as parents and children crowded around prominent private schools in the heart of Bangalore City on the first day of the academic year.

Parents continued to drop their children in ones and twos, obviously taking advantage of the one-month relaxation of the new rule that students must only travel by public transport — BMTC or private buses.

The traffic police were seen battling against emotive scenes of parents seeing their children off and the road rage expressed by waiting office-goers and other commuters who were caught in extended traffic jams.


“It was totally chaotic, especially as it was the first day and parents wanted to be doubly sure their children were safe, particularly those who were newly admitted to schools. Wednesday gave us all the more reason why public transport must be mandated,” exclaimed DCP (Traffic) M A Saleem.

Commuters, too, were beginning to feel the jam they were in, after two months of respite from the school-goers’ rush during the summer vacation. “I started out of home at 9.15 am and took over half an hour to cover a three-km distance. I was caught in a jam right at the Lingarajapuram flyover all the time. Traffic was immobile even on the flyover ramp,” said Ms Sheelu, a resident of Kalyan Nagar.

In other areas too, the scene was the same. “The same ruckus continued, regardless of any restrictions. Parents dropped children personally by car. Though the school has many entrance points, all were crowded,” said Deepa Sarah, a parent whose daughter studies in Baldwin Girls’ School, one of the first schools to adopt BMTC’s chartered bus services.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Associated Managements of English-medium Schools has convened a meeting of management representatives of recognised schools to discuss the new rules and compliance on Monday (June 6).