CC ticket

A tweet by a prominent Member of Parliament from Kerala prompted me to write this article. The MP tweeted a picture of flagging off a school bus and lamented the sorry state of transport for School children in India. It is not unusual for political leaders to express concern on issues touching common people. The point is not the concern itself but the way it was expressed by a leader of a political party which ruled post independent India for more than 80% of the time. 

I grew up in A village in Kerala, the southernmost state in India. I went to a Government school in the village which was a little over one kilometers from my home. The concept of private school was only prevalent in big cities and therefore children of rich and poor all went to the same school. The only other educational institution in those days in the village was a Madrasa, which imparted religious education. The Madrasa timings were early so that the students can join the regular school. There were no roads so we all walked to school. Children came bare foot from all sides of the village. Around the school timing, you will see formation of small tributaries of little children merging and becoming a huge human chain of girls and boys. The line included children from all religion and caste. Religious and caste conflicts were unheard to us in those days. However, I heard that there were upper class households which mandated a mandatory bath in the pond every afternoon upon return from school. While it is a good practice to take bath after walking the dusty and muddy village walking trails, the reason attributed to the compulsory bath was linked to the caste system and untouchability prevalent in those days.

The village school was only upto seventh grade and thus was called upper primary school. The next level of schooling was in the High school which was six kilometer away. Luckily for me, two years before I was ready for High School, an old Sanskrit college was revived and resumed as an oriental high school which was four kilometers away from my home. Some children continues to go to the High School in The town as the one closer mandated Sanskrit as the main language.  Ours was the third batch after this new high school came into existence. We mostly walked through the mountainous trails to the school. There was an option to take bus but the walk to and from the bus stop was almost half of the total distance to the School. 

Those students in the town high school took the bus. There was only one bus around the school time in our route during my time. Students were allowed a fifty percent concession in bus fares. The bus fare to the town was twenty paise and the students are required to pay ten paise only. This concession used to be called CC ticket. I think the name CC came from college concession as when it started only college students were using the bus service. The funny part of the CC ticket was that, even today, it is mandated by the government and applicable only in private buses. The government run KSRTC buses did not entertain student concession CC ticket.  You only need a note book in your hand to claim eligibility for this concessions. The bus owners tried every possible ways to introduce a pass system but could never implement. The other funny thing was the full fare kept on increasing year after year but the CC ticket rate remained fifty percent of the original base full year. This continued for several years.  Thanks to the student wings of the political parties who kept the pressure on the government. I heard that recently the CC ticket rates were marginally increased. 

The bus used to be utterly overcrowded. If the seating capacity is for 52 passengers, one can see equal amount of students standing inside and another 52 hanging all over the bus from footboards, the driver side door, the luggage ladder in the rear and at times heroically seated on roof tops. Hanging from footboards is considered to be heroic and many boys regularly did this to impress girls. Road safety norms were not on the statute books during those days. 

In conclusion, transportation facilities to students were never an item in the government agenda for any parties. If it was the government would have introduced school buses long ago, at least not disallowed CC ticket in KSRTC buses.  One noteworthy thing was that at least Kerala had the CC ticket, the condition of students in other states were worse. As an example, the only way was Rickshaw or the shikshaw(punishment) of walk if you don't have your own vehicle.