School Vans
Not quite right. Van in Haputale
I was only in Sri Lanka for a few years as a child, but I remember the vans. I was in Montesoori, but I still took a van. I remember gazing out the window and daydreaming. Chavie and Halik, however, have some more coherent memories.
The memories I had of the van are mostly
of being stuck in traffic, getting home two and a half hours after the end of school,wonderful. There was a pecking order, or rather a seating order that was strictly followed. The front row was taken by veterans, so I had to wait till somewhere like Nugegoda to jump into that one. C used to tell us about what happened last night on his favourite show: Angili Salakuna. Ni and S were WWE fans, so their stories usually revolved around whatshisname the Undertaker. They even had a pack of WWE cards that we used to play. Na was into music and smoking. A was the guy who was an year older than us, who used to chase me around and poke my (non-existent) tummy. Yes, I’m aware of how wrong that sounds. :D (Chavie: Purple Wonder Van)
But by far the worst memories of my school van years came from sweat. Slick, smelly, unabashed sweat. They would clamber in, gorillas in kids clothing. Unable to wait peacefully until the van picked them up after school, these morons thought it appropriate to run what must have been multiple marathons judging by the bodily waste they were bathed in when they squeezed in next to you. When you’re young you wear shorts to school, and your bare legs would constantly rub against the gorillas’, resulting in a most unpleasant sensation.
To solve this, i went and sat with the girls. (Abdul Halik: School Vans)
As an adult, however, my main association with school vans is disgust and/or rage. These guys generally drive like madmen, and in number. I cannot imagine a worse job than van driver. In America we used to terrorize the yellow school bus driver, but they at least could send us to the back and be a good twenty feet away. In school vans these kids are at your elbows and ears.
So, while I understand where they’re coming from, they still drive me crazy. There’s an ‘international’ school somewhat illegally down my street and vans constantly clog up our tiny lane. I’ve got into a serious fight with one when he boxed me in and now we all kinda steer clear. More generally, at school time they clog up the roads, and in between they clog up parking spaces.
They do have some efficiencies, but not enough to outweigh those of proper school buses, or proper schools near where people live. For example, near Kerrey College, there’s a school van exchange where kids come in from outstation and then switch into vans for their specific school. That would be fine if it wasn’t a largely residential street thus made impassable.
Right now school vans are a necessity and do serve a social good, but they still drive me crazy. According to Chavie and Halik, they’re not that pleasant to be in either.
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like 
Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from 
Never having taken a school van, I worry over the discomfort my kids have to put up with in the van; heat, fumes and traffic jams, but they dont seem to mind much. There were protests when I wanted to change one van which was in a very poor condition, because they’d miss the van friends. They claim to have fun, though they seem bushed and sweaty when they arrive. I would much rather have them take a proper school bus.
Missed out of the whole school van thing. Graduated straight school bus/bus.
There is also a problem of abuse of the children. Have read of a couple of cases in the press and heard of one from a friend.
Traffic to schools is due to a mixture of problems:
1. Non enforcement of the catchment rule – ie only pupils from a particular area, restricted to a few kilomtres are eligible to join.
2. Allowing schools to expand beyond the capacity of the roads – I see little more than concrete at Musaeus College and D.S. This puts a lot of traffic on the surrounding roads. Problem is related to (1) above. Popular schools should be told to set up branches close to new catchment areas if there is sufficient demand. No reason why students from Ambalangoda need to travel daily to Musaeus.
3. Lack of proper public transport – hence the need for shared transport.
4. State interference in education has messed up the system in general but may have effected the good outstation schools more. (I am not sure if this is true) There seems to be a perception that Colombo schools are good, so we have vast amounts of traffic pouring into Colombo. I don’t think this was the case 30-40 years ago. What has changed?
Also why the odd spelling for Montessori and Carey college?
Agree with the need to move schools out of Colombo, but in most schools with an established heritage this would be impossible (can you imagine Royal being located anywhere other than Reid Avenue?). So the more feasible solution would be to have some sort of school bus service, but then again, school buses are buses… they won’t go down winding lanes and drop kids off at right in front of their doorsteps (see, this is why it took two and a half hours to get home, and this is why parents pay loads of cash to get kids into school vans – the good ones really do take care of you.)
Chavie, what you need is branch schools, places set up under the same name and which strive to create be as good as the main school.
St Thomas’s has Gurutalawa, Bandarawela and Prep. St Peter’s was originally set up as St Joseph’s Colombo South, to accommodate the growing number of students from the areas.
The school can issue the same certificate and have the same overall management to ensure standards are the same.
Standards could be maintained, but it wont be the same and parents wont be too keen on the branch school. The main school would always look down their noses at the branch. People in Colombo will still go for the snob value, which is the result of the past pupils, the parents’ social standing etc.
STC Bandarawela was established to shift the prep when Colombo was deemed unsafe during WW2, but preppies wont consider it their equal today.
Chavie is a Thomian. He’ll know what I mean.
St. Joseph’s opened a branch in Enderamulla a few years back, but no one ever hears anything about it.
Officially at least, all Thomian branch school students are given equal opportunity when entering College (I did up to my O/Ls at Prep), but of course snob value… let’s not even go there. :/ And these branch schools were established more than 60 years ago, mind you. If a branch school was started up today, it would take decades to build it up some sort of social ‘acceptance’ or whatever. System’s messed up.
Of course I know a few thomians who don’t think too much about STC:prep
I know Wesley College has already set up a primary branch in The Kirulapona area.
Not a branch. They shifted the whole primary, due to space constraints I think. Must’ve increased the number of new admissions significantly.