The UT administration has directed all educational institutions in the city to conduct student pick-up and drop-off entirely within campus premises and restore parking areas that have been diverted for other use, in a bid to end the daily congestion and safety risk caused by children boarding and alighting on public roads outside school gates. Private schools, their apex body and parents’ groups, however, called the directive impractical, citing narrow entry passages, security concerns and the likelihood of the order creating fresh bottlenecks at the very gates it seeks to decongest.UT’s directions follow weeks of complaints over traffic snarls outside large private schools in busy sectors (HT File)The advisory said the boarding and alighting of students on roads abutting school premises during peak hours was leading to vehicular congestion, traffic obstruction and a serious and avoidable risk to child safety. Citing the Chandigarh Building Rules, 2017-under which every educational institution is required to earmark a portion of its site area for parking-it said this space had, at several institutions, been diverted for swimming pools, sports courts, office space and similar facilities, forcing pick-up and drop-off onto the roads. Schools have been asked to restore earmarked parking areas to their designated purpose, conduct all pick-up and drop-off within premises using this space, and regulate the entry and exit of vehicles, staggering timings where necessary. Institutions have also been asked to actively promote car pooling among students and parents-citing safety, reduced emissions, decongestion and lower commuting costs, including by mapping students residing in the same neighbourhood and sensitising parents through circulars and parent-teacher forums. A compliance report has been sought from institutions at the earliest.UT’s directions follow weeks of complaints over traffic snarls outside large private schools in busy sectors. Just a few weeks back, at the executive committee meeting of the Federation of Sectors Welfare Association Chandigarh (FOSWAC), DC Nishant Kumar Yadav had said private schools that failed to earmark 20% of their premises for parking, as mandated under approved building plans, would face action. Responding to a query on daily congestion outside schools in Sectors 26, 32, 35, 36 and 40, Yadav said all 79 private schools in the city had been issued notices to comply, and that structures such as basketball courts built on designated parking sites would be demolished if not restored.HS Mamik, president of the independent schools association (ISA), which represents over 77 private schools across the tricity, said “Implementing the directive in its current form was quite impossible.” He said his own school Vivek High School, Sector 38, on multiple occasions, wrote to local police stations seeking deployment of two to three traffic personnel outside their gates to manage the morning and afternoon rush, a step he said would be sufficient to ease congestion-but had not received the required help. On the advisory’s push for car pooling, Mamik said schools would follow suit once the administration demonstrated the model could work in practice. “The day officials themselves can manage the traffic chaos caused near institutes such as the high court and the secretariat every morning through methods like car pooling, we’ll have a model to follow and further implement in our institutes,” he said.Nisha Kaul, principal of Strawberry Fields High School, Sector 26, said bus services should be the primary alternative, adding that the school’s transport contractors were willing to add buses if more students opted for them. She said shifting pick-up and drop-off inside the campus was not feasible given the limited entry passage at the school.Atul Khanna, director of Strawberry Fields High School, added that allowing private vehicles inside campuses raised security concerns, referring to the possibility of bombs and other threats. He suggested that vacant land opposite the four schools in the area–Strawberry, St Kabir’s, St John’s and Sacred Heart–be converted into paid institutional parking, arguing that parking charges would push parents to reconsider bringing personal vehicles and help build a more sustainable system.Nitin Goyal, president of the Chandigarh parents’ association (CPA), suggested that every school publish its designated parking area, on-campus pick-up/drop-off route, traffic management measures and implementation date on its website. “Transparency itself will improve compliance,” he said. Vijay Vardhan Rao, a parent, said while car-pooling was a good idea in principle, most four wheelers on the road still carried just one or two students despite being pooled vehicles. He said shifting pick-up and drop-off inside school premises could generate fresh congestion at the gates during opening and closing hours, since schools were likely to prioritise buses entering and exiting first, delaying other vehicles and causing blockages at the premises itself.