Hungry, tired children come home 4 hours late: School buses crawl on Gurgaon roads amid rain

3 min readGurgaonJul 10, 2026 03:07 AM IST

“For a child, being stranded in a school bus for hours means hunger, thirst, anxiety and not being able to use a washroom. We have to do better, not just at preventing such situations but at responding to them when they happen."

For hundreds of schoolchildren in Gurgaon, the journey home from school stretched by as much as four hours the last few days, as the season’s first major monsoon downpour flooded roads and brought traffic to a standstill.

Children who would normally be home by around 3.30 pm remained stranded inside school buses until 7 pm or later on Tuesday and Wednesday, returning exhausted, hungry and distressed.

At Suncity Schools, at least five buses were delayed over the two days, director Rupa Chakravarty said.

“Normally, our buses cover a 10-15 km radius and students reach home within an hour. Because of the rain, some buses could only reach by 5-5.30 pm,” she said.

While the school has not changed its timings, Chakravarty said one of the conductors bought snacks for children stranded in a bus on Tuesday.

Students travelling towards Sector 14, Golf Course Extension Road and Sohna Road were among those worst affected.

Richa Sareen, who lives on Sohna Road and whose children study at schools on Golf Course Road, said they reached home around 5 pm. “They were exhausted, hungry and rushed to the washroom. Luckily, everything was normal on Thursday,” she said, adding that many of her children’s classmates got home only around 7.30 pm.

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Parents of students from Delhi Public School in Sector 45 and Shikshantar School in Sector 41 also reported delays of up to four hours.

The schools did not respond to requests for comment.

“My daughter reached home nearly two hours late and was very tired,” Shilpi Verma, whose daughter studied at Shikshantar School, said.

Ruchika Sethi, a resident of Nirvana Country, said schools and authorities should have contingency plans in place for extreme weather.

“Urban flooding in Gurgaon is not unprecedented. We have lived this reality for years. These are foreseeable emergencies. If we cannot yet eliminate the source of the problem, we must at least have robust emergency response protocols in place. Were school disaster management protocols activated? Were emergency response plans followed,” she asked.

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She called for contingency plans and quicker mobilisation of drinking water and medical assistance for children stranded for hours.

“For a child, being stranded in a school bus for hours means hunger, thirst, anxiety and not being able to use a washroom. We have to do better, not just at preventing such situations but at responding to them when they happen.”

“VVIP convoys pass through swiftly, why are similar efforts not made for school buses? The Department of Education, the district administration and every concerned authority should take serious note of what our children went through. Things could have been far worse,” Sethi said.

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd

Abhimanyu Hazarika is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Gurgaon. He covers southern Haryana.

Education

- Post-Graduate Diploma in Print Media, Asian College of Journalism (Class of 2020)

- B.A. (Hons) Liberal Arts with a major in Political Science, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (Class of 2019)

Professional Experience

Before joining The Indian Express, he worked with Bar & Bench (legal journalism) and Frontline magazine, where he developed experience in court reporting, legal analysis, and long-form investigative features.

Reporting Interests

His work centres on civic accountability, environmental policy, urban infrastructure and culture, crime and law enforcement, and their intersections with politics and governance in and around Gurgaon.

Recent Coverage (2025)

- Crime: Reported on the recovery of 350 kg of explosives and an AK-47 from a rented house in Faridabad, linked to the 2025 Red Fort car explosion case (November 11, 2025).

- Environmental policy: Covered protests outside a Haryana minister’s residence against a Supreme Court order that environmentalists argue could allow mining and real estate development on large parts of the Aravalli hills (December 21, 2025).

- Pollution control measures: Co-authored coverage of the Rekha Gupta government’s enforcement of vehicle restrictions at Delhi-NCR borders (December 21, 2025).

- Road safety and infrastructure: Examined response lapses in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway hit-and-run case and ongoing investigations into high-speed road crimes in Gurugram.

- Animal welfare policy: Reported on concerns regarding the low budget allocated for stray dog sterilization by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (November 30, 2025).

- Urban culture: Featured the social media-driven popularity of a new Magnolia Bakery outlet in Gurugram (December 15, 2025).

Contact

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