ISLAMABAD: A decision of the education ministry to repurpose 20 school buses under the ‘Pink Bus Project’ to facilitate working women from the public and private sectors has attracted flak, with the critics calling out the Federal Directorate of Education for its “publicity stunt”.

At present, many students enrolled in the FDE-run schools and colleges cannot pay up to Rs4,000 transport fee which has put immense strain on under-privileged families, with some of them opting to get their kids enrolled in nearby private schools.

The issue also echoed in the National Assembly after four lawmakers from the ruling PML-N moved a calling attention notice over the issue. The notice said: “A matter of urgent public importance regarding stoppage of almost twenty school buses meant for pick and drop of students and conversion of these buses in the Pink Bus Project.” However, the notice was deferred because of the absence of the education minister during the session.

Officials told Dawn that the decision aimed to “bridge the gap” between rural and urban areas and buses would make five round trips a day. They claimed the pink buses would promote education in rural areas.

Officials say move aims to bridge gap between rural, urban areas; lawmakers move calling attention notice in NA

On the other hand, the parents are irked by this decision since students are being asked to pay up to Rs4,000 per month from Bhara Kahu and other rural areas to travel to their schools and colleges located in urban areas of the capital.

“The high transport cost fee for children pursuing education in urban areas is a constant source of stress for many parents. I know some parents who have been pleading with the FDE for some discount in the fee, but we cannot reduce the charges,” said a school teacher.

The teacher, who spoke to Dawn on the condition of anonymity, said that recently a parent from Bhara Kahu approached him saying it was “difficult” for them to pay the transport charges and sought concession. After the request was denied, the child dropped out.

Another teacher said there were 26 million children out of school and instead of spending money on “publicity stunts” like the Pink Bus Project, the FDE should allocate resources to provide free bus service to deserving students enrolled in the FDE-run institutions to promote education.

The FDE should provide bus service to each student before starting the “pink bus journey for working women and others”, the teacher added.

An education ministry official defended the move in a conversation with Dawn. He said there were 385 buses and 75 buses were not being used. Out of these parked buses, 20 buses will be made operational exclusively for women while others will be used for schools and colleges.

He said the ministry was rebranding 20 buses as a part of the “female-specific pink transport” to operate between rural and urban areas of the federal capital, adding that the buses would hit the roads in mid-June to “promote education”.

In response to said calling attention notice, sources said that the education ministry also defended its move and stated: “As per recent data, 80,000 children of ICT are out of school and it has been observed that rural girls and female teachers were facing extreme financial stress of travelling cost due to inflation, resulting in girls dropping out of schools in urban areas.

“To address this issue, the Ministry of Education has decided to repurpose 20 buses of the Federal Directorate of Education Islamabad rebranding them as female-specific pink transport, to operate between rural and urban Islamabad. This service will be utilised by public and private school girls and teachers free of cost, marking a new chapter in our pro-female transport initiative, made possible by optimising existing resources.”

“Other females will also be allowed if there is space,” the response said, adding that 20 ‘dysfunctional’ buses were in the process of repair and maintenance which will supplement the requirement of schools/colleges.

On the other hand, FDE said it has identified 20 buses within the system which were parked on account of maintenance issues.

These buses would be made functional within a week, the FDE said, adding that it was committed to address the parents’ concerns on top priority.

“This addition of 20 buses will be in addition to the already announced fleet of pink buses and will fortify the fleet of transport for the children and teachers of the Islamabad Capital Territory,” it added.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2024