School timings to change in Bengaluru? Education department meet tomorrow; institutions, parents wary

BENGALURU: Following a suggestion from the Karnataka HC, the department of school education and literacy has convened a meeting on Thursday to discuss revision in school timings across the city.
The move is yet another attempt to address Bengaluru’s perennial traffic woes, with changes in school timings expected to decongest city roads to a large extent.

However, no matter the rationale behind it, school managements, private transporters and parents have expressed their reservations about the initiative, saying that tinkering with school timings will lead to further deterioration of the physical and mental well-being of children, parents and their dependents. This section feels that instead of changing school timings, deploying extra police personnel at major traffic junctions near schools and encouraging parents to let pupils travel by school or public transport can help tackle the issue better.

Currently, most schools in and around the city commence at 8.30am, but the department is exploring the possibility of advancing the timings by half an hour to one hour.
The Associated Management of Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) has listed out certain practical problems with rescheduling school hours.
Shashi Kumar D, general secretary of KAMS, said students and parents are already reeling under high levels of stress. Any changes in school timings will only make things worse. “Typically, daily routines at households start as early as 4.30am. A revision in timings will cut short the sleep time, apart from impacting physical and mental wellness,” he said.
Chinmayi Rai, a working parent, said: “Any changes will lead to chaos. Our kid travels at least 15km and starts as early as 6.30am. Children are in no mood to eat anything at 6am, given that they still feel sleepy around that time.”
Lack of proper breakfast will result in attention deficit and lower their physical fitness, thereby taking a toll on their learning ability, Rai added. “This will put us (parents) under even more stress,” she reasoned.
Shashi Kumar argued it is not just parents or children, but even the other stakeholders, such as teachers and support staff, will be greatly inconvenienced if school timings are changed. “Many of the teachers are also parents themselves. An early start will put them under tremendous pressure as they need to reach the schools even before the pupils arrive,” he said.
As alternatives, KAMS and the other stakeholders have suggested policy changes. “The government has to look at making policy changes. For instance, let the traffic police deploy cops as early as 7am near all schools. In addition, at least two police personnel or home guards should be deployed at major junctions near schools during the opening and closing hours,” some stakeholders said.
“CBD [central business district] schools contribute the most to traffic snarls. So, parents of pupils in these schools should be made to issue an undertaking that their children shall either use school transport or public transport, instead of being driven in individual cars,” they further said.

source : timesofindia