{Believe it or not!}
Children from the villages of Gari Fazil, Gari Sheru and Gari Togar have to walk or cycle through a 3.5-kilometer stretch of dense Mattewara jungle every day to get to their schools and study.
The students are forced to undergo this ordeal as there is no transport facility to reach Government Senior Secondary School in Kadiana Kalan and Government High School in Mattewara.
The students in grades 8 to 12 mostly commute alone and often encounter animals.
The students said that since their parents could not pick them up or drop them off due to work commitments, they had no choice but to travel alone or, if they had company, in groups.
A class 11 student of Kadiana Kalan School said, “On rainy days, my father takes me to school on his two-wheeler. But that is not possible every day as both my parents work. I have to walk through the forest every day.”
A student of Mattewara High School said that it was more difficult to cross the forest in the afternoon compared to the morning.
“On the way home, there are usually junkies sitting in the woods. It’s upsetting and we prefer to travel in groups. Sometimes a few of us are on holiday and one of us has no choice but to skip school because it’s too dangerous to commute to school alone,” she added.
State Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said, “A pilot project called ‘Nawian Rahan’ was introduced in Patiala district. The aim was to provide free rides in e-rickshaws to every student in government schools. It showed tremendous results in terms of improved attendance and improved safety. We plan to introduce the same in the remaining districts so that no student faces any difficulty in commuting to school.”
An eighth-grader said they are asking someone for a ride because it is becoming too difficult to walk an hour to work.
“Sometimes we ask someone to give us a lift as we don’t even have bicycles. It is quite tiring to walk for more than an hour in the morning and it affects our studies,” he said.
A Class 11 student said they were harassed by monkeys on the way. “There have been incidents of monkeys stealing our belongings. We have to carry a stick to go to and from school. There is no facility to ride tricycles either. Some students have their own scooters but for those of us from the middle class, it is difficult. It would have been better if we also had bus services like the ones provided by the government in the prestigious schools,” he said.
“Had to forego SOE seat due to lack of transport options”
Many students said they had to give up their dream of studying at one of the most prestigious universities (SOEs) due to a lack of transportation options.
Two girls from Kadiana Kalan School who were selected for the SOE Indrapuri said they had to give up their places because it was not feasible for them to cycle more than two hours to work every day. “After we learned about the SOEs and the facilities and the popularity there, we wanted a place to have better opportunities. But after the selection, we could not arrange transport and had to give up our dream,” the students said.
