School attendance drops after bus company end services

 

The parent-teacher association of two schools in Bidor, Perak, said the Hup Yik bus service was stopped because of costs and lack of passengers.

PETALING JAYA: The absence of bus services around Bidor for the past few months has led to a drop in attendance at schools here, the head of the parent-teacher association said today.

Ahmad Fadyil Abdul Maulud said most of the pupils in the area depended on bus transport to go to school, Bernama reported.

“Since the Hup Yik bus service stopped, the level of attendance has been deplorable; we hope the state government will urgently help restore public transport for the surrounding community,” he said.

Fadyil said he was informed that the bus company had to stop operations because of maintenance costs and the lack of passengers.

State executive councillor Nizar Jamaluddin said the state government was awaiting approval for two solutions: restoring services on the Tapah-Sungkai route using the Bas Perak Sejahtera service with a nominal payment of RM1, and a temporary bus service.

Both measures need approval of the land public transport authority.

Fadyil, who is president of the parents-teacher association of SMK Syeikh Abdul Ghani national secondary school and Kampong Poh primary school, said Orang Asli children did not have the same problem because the Orang Asli development department has a special van to take them to school.

“However, it is a problem for other students, most of whom are not well off and unable to use rented cars or e-hailing services every day,” he said. “Even working parents have time constraints to drop off and pick up their children after school.” - FMT