The Telangana government’s move to introduce new uniform school timings recently, traffic police had earlier put in place a staggered timing system wherein schools were to start and finish within 10 to 15 minutes of each other and the uniform timings are raising questions about the consequent impact on traffic in area like Jubilee Hills, Abids and Ameepet etc.
Areas most affectd with will be Mehdipatnam,Abids, Trimulgherry and Secunderabad since they have the maximum number of schools. Hyderabad has an excess of 3,000 schools with over 11 lakh students.
An all upper primary and high schools are to begin classes by 9 am and finish by 4.30 pm, as per recent orders by the Telangana government and also government has mandated that high schools have nine periods with two short breaks and a lunch break. Upper primary and primary schools will have eight periods with same breaks.
Nageswara Rao, I said that a parents, “Even with staggered timings, there were always traffic snarls. But it was better because all schools wouldn’t release at the same time. Now again, we have to struggle through traffic.”
A senior education department official said that, “The government has issued an order and we have to follow it. Earlier schools timings coincided with office timings so there was a lot of stress.”
“We have taken note of the GO on the new school timings. We have asked for the schools’ response on this issue and we will see what can be done,” a senior police official said.
“There will definitely be traffic problems due to the new timings particularly in areas like Abids where a large number of schools function. We have asked the traffic police to allow staggered timings,” S. Srinivasa Reddy, president of Telangana Private School Managements Association, said.