Mita Mukherjee

Doing part-time jobs during school or college years at some point had been common among many students over the years but bunking school to work as delivery boys is the latest trend now being noticed among a section of school students in Kolkata and in its fringes.

With the opening of many food and other delivery apps in the city and in its suburbs, many students studying in Classes XI and XII in state-aided schools are not attending classes regularly and working as part-time delivery and courier service boys to earn a “reasonable” amount, heads of several schools said.

The headmasters of at least four schools in Kolkata said these boys would leave home for school in uniform every morning. But instead of attending the classes they would do the delivery boy job for the whole day and reach home in the evening on time giving the impression to their parents that they were back from school. They would change the uniform on their way to the assignments, put on a T-shirt provided by the company for which they work and deliver the items riding their bi-cycle which are given to them free by the state government under its “sabooj sathi” scheme.

The headmaster of a north Kolkata school said nearly 10 students were recently found not attending school for 10 days at a stretch. Some teachers were sent to the homes of the absentee students to find out why they were not coming to school. The parents of most of the students expressed shock knowing that their wards were not attending  school because the boys would regularly leave home every morning in school uniforms and return home in the evening.

Later, the students confessed before the headmaster about doing the delivery boy jobs during the school hours.

The headmaster of a school in south Kolkata said in his institution, a good number of students were not just doing the delivery boy jobs but also doing part-time jobs in garment and footwear outlets.

However, the delivery jobs are becoming more popular because of the flexible timings of the apps which means, the students have the liberty to work for as many hours as they want to according to their convenience.

“ I got to know about this job through one of my relatives. Initially, I thought it wouldn’t be possible for me to do the job because I am below 18 years age. But, later one of my relatives advised me to use his ID for registration. I managed to get the job using his ID. I didn’t tell my parents about this as I knew they would not allow me. But I knew I was not wasting my time. I worked from 10 am to 5 pm for five months at intervals and I have earned a decent amount. I have bought a new cell phone with my own money,” Ramen Karmakar (name changed), a Class XII student of a school in north Kolkata who is a candidate in the 2023 Higher Secondary examination which is now in progress, told EducationWorld.

Like Ramen most of the students are below 18 years and doing the job using the ID of relatives and friends.

Subhas Dey (name changed) a student of a school in Diamond Harbour in the southern fringe of the city, however said he had been doing the job not just for earning some pocket money, but he also uses it to support his family.

“The remuneration has helped me to become more independent and I can also support my family to some extent,” said Rahul who has been a delivery boy for three months.

Most schools follow a compulsory attendance rule according to the policy of the boards they are affiliated with, which in most cases is minimum 75 per cent.

“ We understand that some students are forced to earn through this job because of financial problems in their families. But we certainly cannot allow them to do this at the cost of school routine. We need to find out some ways to solve this problem,” said a headmaster of the school where Ramen is a student.

Saugata Basu, a teacher of a government school said students are increasingly bunking school for engaging themselves in delivery boy jobs but the schools should find out the reason behind the trend before punishing them for their absence.    

“ Some students are signing up to work as delivery boys only for the sake of earning some pocket money. But there are hordes of other reasons. Some are forced to do the job to support their family and also their own academic needs. If the students are doing this for fun, they should be offered counseling. But for the rest who are doing this to support their family should be dealt with more sympathetically,” said Basu.