Will revising school timings ease traffic congestion in B'luru?

Rithu Dravid | NT

Bengaluru: Will the reworking of the existing school timings cause inconvenience to parents and children in the city?

School timings have come to the forefront once again with the Karnataka high court recently issuing an advisory to revise the timings to ease traffic congestion.

In view of this and to ease traffic and reduce the number of vehicles plying on roads during peak hours, the government is examining the possibility of revising timings of educational institutions, industries, and the corporate sector.

News Trail spoke to various school Principals, teachers, parents and traffic authorities on the feasibility of the proposal. Senior police officials suggest reworking on the start and end time schedule of schools and shift-wise batches which will by and large reduce the number of vehicles on the road during peak hours.

“Revising the timings of educational institutions, industries and corporate businesses per say will not help. But staggering timings during peak hours will certainly help in lesser traffic congestion. In schools, class wise timings can be staggered for senior and junior groups of children. Shifts for staff will reduce the crowd and traffic drastically around schools and educational institutions”, said Alok Kumar, ADGP for Road Safety and Traffic, Bengaluru.

However, not all parents are in agreement and said this could disrupt schedules of extracurricular activities, after-school programs, and other events.

“The existing timings are perfect and everyone is accustomed to it. It would create issues for working families to deal with the new timings.

This could affect students' routines and may cause difficulties for the parents and schools to manage”, said Amitha D’Souza, Parent of Sophia High School, Palace Road, Bengaluru. There is also the fact that schools around the Central Business District (CBD) in the city face the most traffic related concerns.

“Government schools have nothing to do with this. It is the schools around the CBD area that face huge traffic concerns. However, it is not advisable to entirely change the system. Providing transport alternatives like electric and battery operated feeder buses to students can help mitigate traffic congestion around schools. Access to these feeder buses from designated pick up points to multiple schools can help. In the best interest of students the present school timing schedules should not be disturbed. Promoting the use of public transport should be mandated rather than changing the existing system”, opined D Sashi Kumar, General Secretary of Association Management of Schools in Karnataka (KAMS).

“Regulation on car usage can help reduce traffic around schools. My children have been using the bus transport facility that the school provides. Revising school timings will cause further chaos and will burden the students further. The scheduled extra coaching after school cocurricular activities will be hampered with new changes that will affect overall performance”, says Arshiya, parent of Bishop Cotton Boys and Girls School, Residency Road, Bengaluru.

Some parents are worried that it could be inconvenient for families with children attending different schools.

“Parents like me have to drop off and pick up kids at different times, which will be challenging”, exclaims Dr Anita, parent of kids studying at St Joseph’s Boys’ High School and Sophia High School.

However the Principals of the CBD schools want longterm viable solutions to ease the movement of vehicles around schools.

Fr Sunil Fernandes SJ, Principal, St Joseph’s Boys’ High School, Bengaluru said, “Students should use public modes of transportation like vans, buses, metros etc. However, during the rainy seasons, most prefer to travel by their own vehicles. Parents should avoid using cars and use two wheelers instead. We cannot force our students to come earlier than the present school timings as this would affect their sleep patterns and impact their health. We have to look at this issue holistically.''

“We can promote usage of public transport to students if the government provides more feeder buses from metros to the school. We are already following staggered timings. We need other solutions to resolve this huge issue of traffic around the schools”, exclaims Sr Alpana, Principal, Sophia High School, Bengaluru.

• Encourage parents to make kids use the school bus system, public transport, walking or cycling to school.
• Avoid single use of cars to drop and pick up children.
• Stagger school timings.
• Common access points for pick up by feeder buses to multiple schools.
• Coordinate with Traffic Au