Daily Times

Sir: The National Energy Conservation Centre, in association with the Ministry of Education, has committed to ensure that all private schools with 500 or more students must have vans and buses to reduce traffic congestion on roads. Traffic jams are a common sight around private schools in the major cities of Pakistan. These jams often stretch to over a kilometre on the roads leading to the school in the morning and the afternoon. Most of these cars are dropping or picking up one child. That is a ridiculous ratio by any stretch of the imagination given the traffic problems we are facing in our large cities as well as the country’s rising fuel bill. These schools rake in millions in fees and the least they can do is invest in school buses that would reduce the traffic load around their campuses. Such a move would not just reduce the traffic burden, but would also reduce noise and air pollution in the area.
It is ironic that these schools teach their students principles of conservation, protection of the environment and social responsibility, yet they fail to act themselves. Parents of students living close by should also meet regularly to work out car-pooling plans if they don’t find the school bus service adequate.
And in addition, people that drive to work every day should also use such car-pooling and transportation plans. They don’t need their employer to arrange for it; they can simply co-ordinate with each other and share fuel costs over a month. Imagine the phenomenal decrease in traffic and pollution if we just learned to commute responsibly!
MARIAM RATHORE
Islamabad