The Ahmedabad municipal corporation school board on Thursday suspended the free transportation facility of 50 schools for not following its guidelines. The schools were issued showcause notices on October 20 and asked to reply in 10 days. At the end of this period,50 schools were taken off the facility but this caused hardship to pre-primary and upper primary students. Under the scheme,giving free transportation or escort to primary school students is mandatory if they live beyond a distance of one kilometre (Classes I-V) and three kilometres (Class VI-VII) from their schools. Administrative Officer L D Desai said school management committees were found lacking in managing funds and timings of the vehicles,which were also not meeting RTO norms set for them. While the number of children getting the facility was low,the number of trips shown on record was unusually high and caused children reaching late, he said.
