Mumbai: No local train access to teachers; special ST bus timetable issued

Passengers queue up to board ST buses at the Dadar stop. File pic

All this while teachers were extremely hopeful that they would soon get access to local trains and travelling to their respective institutes for board exam evaluation work would become much easier, but an ST bus timetable issued by the state education department on Sunday has come as a disappointment. Based on the timetable, they can buy tickets and show their ID cards to get access to special buses that will help them reach their respective institutes. However, they feel cheated, as they already had access to buses and it would in no way cut down on travel time.

Teachers are now asking why the education department made a show of collecting their details for railway passes. Teachers' organisations have been demanding access to locals as they are currently travelling to their respective schools and junior colleges for board exam-related works. After multiple demand letters and constant protests, it was declared that teachers would be allowed on trains. The process of collecting their details for the passes had started at the office of Deputy Director of Education.

"After the teachers went through the entire process of providing details for train passes, the government declared a State Transport (ST) bus timetable for them. Bus transport is anyway available. We were pressing for access to locals to cut down on the commuting time as many travel from the suburbs. They have already delayed the process so much that SSC result work is almost over," said Anil Bornare, vice-president of BJP Teachers' Cell.

The system to issue Universal Code passes includes ‘teachers' under one of the categories, but the state education department seems to have completely missed the fact.

"The office of Deputy Director of Education had issued a letter on June 16 to collect details of teachers for access to locals. Teachers were waiting for the passes and now an ST bus timetable has been declared, which will be functional from Monday. Travel by road clearly means traffic and other issues. How do we compensate for the time spent on these trips? We have teachers coming from as far as Kalyan, Virar to schools in Kurla and Andheri among others. In such a situation, how can teachers focus on the evaluation work, which is also a difficult task this year," said Rajesh Pandya from Teachers Democratic Front.

Speaking about the development, Neeta Vaz, who stays in Vasai and teaches at St. Ann's High School in Malad said that the whole exercise was pointless and added, "By local train, it would have taken me an hour or so to reach my school. But now as I have to travel by road I am likely to spend almost five hours reaching school for just two-three hours of work. They shouldn't have committed if they were not going to deliver on it." Another teacher who lives in Badlapur and travels to a school in Thane, said, "ST buses do not ply within the city. So their ticket fares are not known. When we are supposed to buy tickets, then they should have declared the fares as well."

When contacted Sandip Sangave, deputy director of education, said, "These ST bus services are especially for teaching and non-teaching staff. A fare chart has been prepared for the services within the city as they ran within Mumbai during the first lockdown. So, the charges will be based on that." When asked why teachers were not being allowed on trains when the same had been promised, Sangave said, "This service is being started as per instructions from the higher authorities in the government."

An official from the school education ministry said, "Initially when the local train access was assured, a letter of request was sent to the Chief Minister's Office and Railways. It was suggested that the access would be given to teachers under Level II and we thought that Mumbai would match that requirement by month-end. However, Mumbai is still under Level III and so there is a technical issue."