ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training has sought Rs200 million for smooth operation of buses of educational institutions.

The ministry, besides school and college bus services, has decided to ply 20 buses from city to rural areas dedicated for girl students and female teachers of both public and private schools.

These 20 buses will take five rounds each daily to accommodate students, teachers and other working women.

Speaking to Dawn, Federal Secretary Education Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani said that Islamabad’s school and colleges had 385 buses and out of them 75 were parked.

Out of these parked buses, 20 will be made operational for women while the other will be used for schools and colleges.

“Over the past three months, a thorough audit of the FDE wing was conducted to assess the status and functionality of over 385 old and new buses in ICT schools. Unfortunately, 30pc of both old and new buses were found to be parked being either without drivers due to lack of maintenance or inefficient resource utilization.”

Following detailed consultations with district administration, it was discovered 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, we have decided to re-purpose 20 buses, rebranding them as female-specific pink transport to operate between rural and urban Islamabad,” he said and added that these 20 buses will be on road in mid-June.

Meanwhile, he said school and college administration had been facing difficulty in running their bus services smoothly as they had no regular drivers and other staff.

“We have sought Rs200 million in this budget specifically for smooth functioning of buses.

“We will hire drivers and staffers and will repair the parked buses,” he said and added that after summer break the issue of transport of students would be resolved.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2024