Joint effort with parents necessary to ease traffic congestion outside schools

We thank Ms Fu for her suggestion to ease traffic congestion outside schools ("Stagger school starting times to ease traffic congestion", 25 Jan).

Staggering school start times is one strategy to ease traffic congestion. Currently, some schools in close proximity to one another have worked together to stagger their starting times, for example by 20 minutes apart, to ease traffic congestion in the area.

Schools also have protocols in place to manage vehicular movement within the campus during assembly and dismissal periods. For example, schools have designated places for drivers to pick up or drop off students, and have a comprehensive traffic management plan for all modes of transport.

We would like to partner parents in helping to ease traffic congestion and ensure road safety around school zones. Parents can role model by abiding by the schools' traffic management plans, and obey all traffic rules. Where possible, parents who fetch their children to school, should consider dropping off their children a short distance away from school and complete the last stretch of journey to school on foot. Students are also encouraged to make use of school buses and public transport to travel to and from school. This builds independence and inculcates environmentally sustainable habits in our children, while helping to ease traffic congestion around the campus.

Ms Liew Wei Li
Deputy Director-General of Education (Schools) and Director of Schools
Ministry of Education

谨答复《联合早报·交流站》于1月25日刊登的傅思慧读者投函《错开上课时间解决道路拥堵》：

我们感谢傅女士关于缓解学校外交通拥堵的建议。

错开上课时间是缓解交通拥堵的方法之一。目前，一些相邻的学校已经合作，错开上课时间，例如将上课时间调整为相隔20分钟，以缓解该地区的交通拥堵。

学校还制定了在集会和放学时段，管理校园内车流的规程。例如，学校有指定的地点供司机接送学生，并为各种交通工具制定了全面的交通管理计划。

我们愿同家长合作，帮助缓解交通拥堵，确保学校周边道路的安全。家长可以以身作则，遵守学校的交通管理计划，以及所有交通规则。如有可能，送孩子上学的父母应考虑让孩子在离学校不远的地方下车，然后步行上学。

我们也鼓励学生乘搭校车及公共交通工具往返学校。这可以培养孩子的独立性，并让他们养成有助环境可持续发展的习惯，同时缓解校园周围的交通拥堵。

教育部
副教育总司长（学校）学校司统筹司长
刘慧丽