Circular to make buses, carpool mandatory in schools revoked

Kolkata: The state government has withdrawn its recently-issued notification to 26 private schools asking them to introduce a system of buses or carpooling by parents for ferrying students from April 1.

"After Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was apprised about the development, she discussed the issue with me. The school Education department has been asked to revoke the circular with immediate effect. Schools alone can not solve the city's pollution and traffic congestion problems," state Education minister Partha Chatterjee said on Saturday.

The minister said that he had no earlier information about the directive sent to the schools and he had not given any "instruction to anyone in this regard".

It has been learnt that the minister has called for the "entire file" from the department officials on the basis of which the directive had been issued to the schools.

A senior official in the department who refused to be named said that pollution is a global problem and asking schools to stop their students from coming in cars will not address such issues.

In its notification, the department had asked authorities of 26 prominent schools in Kolkata to "mandatorily introduce" a system by April, under which students would be ferried in school buses or pool cars. It also restricted the use of personal vehicles to "emergent and exceptional cases".

Among the institutes that have received the circular are South Point School, Modern High School for Girls, La Martiniere School for Boys/Girls, St Xavier's, Don Bosco, St James, Gokhale Memorial, and Future Foundation to name a few.