Some educational institutions in Chittagong that have a large number of students compared to other schools and are located beside major roads have frequently been blamed for aggravating traffic congestion in the city.
The city roads, especially those near big schools, usually witness serious traffic congestion before and after school hours when hordes of students enter or leave schools at the same time. Most of these roads are also very narrow.
Last year, the traffic department of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) urged the schools to introduce their own bus services in a bid to ease traffic jam in the city but the schools have not yet acted accordingly.
Wahidul Hoque Chowdhury, CMP additional deputy commissioner (traffic), told the Dhaka Tribune that notices were sent to the schools on May 27, 2014.
“We are struggling to manage traffic in the city as the number of transports has risen dramatically. The worst traffic situation is seen during school drop-off and pick-up hours. It is the passengers other than students who bear the brunt of traffic jams,” he said.
“We have deployed additional traffic police officials but the situation has not improved much. We also suggested that the schools hire private transports to transport students if they cannot introduce their own bus services but they did not comply.”
AKM Shahidur Rahman, CMP additional commissioner (finance, administration and traffic), told the Dhaka Tribune private cars parked in front of the major thoroughfares in the city cause gridlock.
“In a survey, we found that as many as 1,200 private cars are parked on both sides of Dampara Road for dropping off and picking up students of Bangladesh Women Association Girls’ High School.
“A bus can easily accommodate passengers of more than 10 cars. This is why schools having a large number of students should introduce their own bus services soon,” he said.
Engineer Subhash Barua, whose work as the vice-president of Forum for Planned Chittagong involves figuring out ways to resolve traffic problems, said the schools notified by the CMP should launch their own bus services in no time. “Also, we should reduce the number of private transports to ease traffic congestion.”
Dr Khastagir Government Girls’ High School in the city’s Jamalkhan area has around 2,000 students but does not provide any transport service.
Hasmat Jahan, headmistress of the school, said the school had received two notices, one from Chittagong City Corporation and the other from the CMP, for introducing bus services for pupils.
“We have notified the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education of this and are still awaiting a reply,” she said.
Around 6,000 students study at Bangladesh Women Association Girls’ High School in two shifts but the institution provides no transport services for its pupils.
“Even though we have no transport facility, students themselves have arranged six to seven microbuses for this purpose,” said the school’s Principal Anwara Begum.
Principal of Ispahani Public School and College Mosleh Uddin said he fully agrees with the idea of introducing bus services for students. “We will discuss this in the upcoming parent-teacher meeting.”
Kazi Mohammad Shafiul Alam, chief executive officer of Chittagong City Corporation, said private cars are to be largely blamed for tailbacks on the major city roads.
“We will raise the issue during our next general meeting of the corporation,” he said.
