Parents caught in a fix as schools declare holiday amid tension

Aarthi Sivaramakrishnan, an entrepreneur from Perungudi, spent almost three hours to reach her daughter’s school that was just five minutes’ drive from her client’s place. Taking a detour from Taramani to Velachery and then to Perungudi station, she finally reached the school taking the by-lanes. Aarthi, who runs her HR Consulting and arts firm, was at a client’s place, when she heard the school had declared a holiday. 

“I had to rush back and it took me almost three hours to get to her school, taking one of the longest routes all the way to Vijayanagar in Velachery and then back to Perungudi with the help of Google Maps,” she said. 

However, Aarthi added that the school was extremely supportive of the parents and took all efforts to keep their children safe, till they arrived to pick them up. Similarly, Sheroon Benazir, a resident of Velachery was distraught when she was told that the school bus transporting her five-year-old couldn’t make it to the 100-feet road, where she resided, to drop off her daughter. 

“The school informed me that the school had declared a holiday and the students were being sent back. However, the school bus couldn’t reach 100-feet road. They dropped her off at Baby Nagar and I had to walk all the way, as there was no autorickshaw or cab available,” she said. Natarajan, a resident of T Nagar, spent a couple of hours going around the locality before he reached his son’s school at Nungambakkam. 

“The school had declared a holiday, just one hour after I had dropped him off at the school. I had to rush back from my office in Adyar to bring him home. It took me more than three hours to find a route to get out of the blocked roads,” he said with a sigh of relief.