The Kerala transport department will re-modify a few of the old low-floor buses into classrooms on experimental basis, state transport minister Antony Raju said on Tuesday.
Raju said following summer vacation when schools re-open in June, they will need more classrooms and the used buses can be used for the purpose.He said it will prop up young children’s interest towards schools.
“We are doing it on experimental basis. Two buses will be given to an upper primary school in Thiruvananthapuram. Malappuram district has also sought two buses. It will be a new experience for children,” the minister said in the state capital during a function.
Kerala education minister V Sivankutty, who was present during the function, termed the idea as a “novel one.” The transport department said these buses will be re-modified and proper seating arrangements will be done. At least two class rooms can be arranged in a low-floor bus.
As per information, at least 400 state road transport corporation buses have been lying idle at different depots. Recently, some of them were converted as resting rooms for the bus crew and given out on rent for cafes for Kudumbhasree — a successful women self-help programme.
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) was suffering loss for many years and the government used to pump in money for the ailing public service undertaking (PSU) for long but recently it asked the corporation to find its own ways to attract revenue and stopped the assistance resulting in big crisis.
For last few months, KSRTC employees had been getting their salaries in a staggered manner. Two weeks back, employees had also resorted to a strike. Among 58 loss-making PSUs in the state KSRTC tops the list. In 2021, its accumulated loss was ₹510 crore.
In May first week, the high court had pulled up the ailing corporation for dumping buses in depots. “These buses are your assets. Why did you leave them to rust? Valuable assets are being wasted on account of negligence. Being a company going through financial crisis, this is not the way you should be dealing with your buses. They may be scrap, but you should have sold them much earlier in a better condition,” a bench of justices Devan Ramachandran and Sophy Thomas observed while hearing a plea questioning the ruining assets of the corporation.
