Clearly, in a city of commuters, nobody finds it odd that children commute 45 minutes to an hour, one-way, to reach kindergarten classrooms. From teachers and parents to school bus operators, everybody agrees that it’s a common enough occurrence.

Khajida Shaikh, principal of Anjuman Islam School at Mahim says she often gets admission applications from students residing in Wadala, Sewri and Bandra-the former two are at least 40 minutes away in average traffic. “This is the problem with not just Urdu schools but also English and Marathi. The demand for good schools is very high,” she says. “Parents do not mind sending even KG children long distances daily. And we cannot refuse admissions either.” Maya Mangalwedekar, principal of the Indian Education Society (IES) School at Mulund, knows a student who comes all the way from Kalva, some 20 km away. “I had urged the parent to look for a school in the Thane area but she said would like to continue here.”

The reasons vary: In the case of the Borivali and Dahisar students attending Millat High School some 15 km away, it was cultural. The local corporator of the Jogeshwari area,

Sayyed Barjina Abbas, points out that not all Urdu-medium schools offer Islamic education. “Here, even the school uniform adheres to the Islamic way of dressing,” she says. “Students form as far as Borivali, Dahisar and Bandra take admission here.”

While Abbas says schools should admit only those students who stay in the vicinity, Deputy Director for primary education Sheela Tiwari says many city schools follow the “neighbourhood concept” at their own levels, but there is no rule barring schools from admitting students who live at some distance.

Others say getting admission in a nearby school is not always guaranteed. Still others say the dearth of good quality schools is to blame. Managing Trustee and Superintendent of the Balmohan Vidyamandir trust school in Dadar Bapusaheb Rege says he gets students from as far as Mahalaxmi, Bandra and beyond. “Parents would obviously want their children to get into the best schools,” Rege says. “But they also have to understand the trouble the child has to take.”

And often, parents simply don’t know the details of the child’s journey to school.

Faizal, brother of Hadika Sheikh who died in Monday’s accident, says: “Till yesterday, I had not even seen the car in which Hadika travelled. We were not even aware that 12 children commuted by it.”