Performing their duties fearlessly

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 22

While instructions issued by the UT Education Department to all schools to deploy women attendants in buses of their institutions for the safety of children have raised a debate on security of women attendants and their salaries, over 20 women attendants employed by a city-based school are performing their duties fearlessly for the past two years.

These attendants are being paid salaries by the management of their school on a daily basis. Though the school management has exempted them from doing additional jobs (during free time i.e. from 9 am to 1 pm), these attendants are finding hard to get jobs.

The experiment by the school has yielded favourable results, but deployment of women attendants in buses associated with all other schools has become an issue of debate.

The Education Department while issuing instructions regarding this has not made it clear about the employer of the attendants who will pay their salaries.

Inquiries by Chandigarh Tribune revealed that over 20 women attendants of Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, here, had a good experience. While most of them are matriculate, two young girls are arts graduate and are earning their livelihood with dignity. However, these attendants have not been provided uniform yet.

Similarly, Vivek High School, Sector 38, Chandigarh, has also recruited women conductors apart from installing the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the school buses.

A majority of the women attendants hail from Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and are from poor background.