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by Nadira Gunatilleke

Since most of the offices and schools are open at 8.00 am, daily travellers who are employed in Colombo and suburbs have to experience heavy traffic jams every day. A large number of private vehicles (most of the time carrying one child), several school vans and staff service vans are some of the main reasons for this major problem which gradually and invisibly destroys the country's resources.

This problem also causes a significant damage to the country's economy by reducing productivity of the work force and wasting a number of labour hours. Introducing substitute roads such as expanding and extending Duplication road, constructing of costal line road from Dehiwala to Bambalapitiya have also failed to reduce traffic jams to a significant level. Meanwhile it is reported that some persons and organisations have proposed to education authorities to extend school hours and introduce longer school hours.

This has both positive and negative effects but the most important thing is it has a direct connection with solving the country's traffic problem. Therefore this is the best time to re-think reducing traffic jams and introducing practical and productive school hours for the schoolchildren. This will increase the productivity of the whole system.

According to a group of working women in a private company located in Colombo they travel to Colombo from Kalutara daily and most of the mornings they are not in a good `mood' to start with a load of work because they are too tired after early morning house chores and travelling more than two hours standing in a loaded bus.

"We have to report to work at 8.00 am. If we want to come to Colombo before 8.00 am we have to avoid the heavy traffic jam produced by school vans. Therefore we start our journey around 6 am without having breakfast. We have to send our children to schools at the same time. Even at that time we do not get seats because we get on to the bus in between Kalutara town and Wadduwa and all the buses are loaded with schoolchildren and office workers. You do not need to describe the harassment we have to undergo while travelling. Anyway it is better than the trains where we have to fight with gangs to get a place to stand up !.

"We request the authorities to bring back previous school time, 7.30 am. This will solve all the problems. We can send our children to schools with no hurry and then get ready and come to work without worrying about traffic because at that time all the schools are started and there is no traffic on the roads.

It is alright to extend school hours for more than six hours but not to eight hours and schools should be started at 7.30 am or otherwise the children will suffer from mental pressure and there will be another huge traffic jam in every road after 4.00 pm. Even now the students who travel to Colombo from outstations come home in the evening around 4.00 pm !", they added.

A group of students from Lindsay Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo 4 said that they travel from Panadura daily and feel too tired to study after travelling almost two hours in a small school van with 14 seats but carry more than 17 schoolchildren.

"We do not take breakfast because we have to leave home with our parents and there is no time to have breakfast. The van stops and takes schoolchildren from several places on our way to Colombo. We spend almost two hours in the van. There are a large number of office vans on the road at the same time because most of the offices also start at 8 or 8.30 am. There is no way avoiding traffic other than starting early in the morning.

"If schools start little bit early we will not feel tired even the school hours extended up to six and half or seven hours. Studying in the early morning is pleasing and we can easily absorb whatever theories taught to us. Then we have enough time to study and we will get time in the evening to spend on other things such as hobbies etc. But if we have to return home with our parents at the same time (4 or 4.30 pm) there will be huge traffic jams and both parties will not have enough time to spend with each other. Even now we don't have enough time to play and spend with our parents. This will further unfasten 'family bonds'.

Another group of students from Royal College, Panadura said that longer school hours will make them too tired and strain their capacity. "We will not stop obtaining tuition even if we have longer school hours because we do not get individual attention during the school hours. Teachers teach only 'bright' students. Therefore we have to seek private tuition. Longer school hours only make us more tired, they added.

A group of parents who were waiting for their children at Panadura Balika Vidyalaya said that they would not need to put their children in day care centres any more if the education authorities introduce longer school hours.

"Our children will not be spoiled by attending tuition classes, they added. The Chairman, National Child Protection Authority, Prof. Harendra De Silva said that even now schoolchildren are not safe on the roads and they do not have enough vacations. If school hours are extended they will travel by buses in the dark and will get abused easily.

Even now a lot of schoolchildren depend on snacks and they will more and more depend on odd food such as snacks and short eats during longer school hours. This will affect their health. Even an adult can concentrate on one subject maximum for 45 minutes. After 20 or 30 minutes they lose concentration. So how can schoolchildren concentrate on one subject more than one hour? This will definitely lead to more unrest among adolescents and waste of resources.

According to the Education Ministry spokesman, proposals have been forwarded to the ministry requesting longer school hours. But the ministry has not considered such proposals so far. According to the statistics last year most of the schools did not cover school syllabuses and only 24 percent of the applicants got through Mathematics.

Last year 3,48,000 students sat for mathematics and only 78,000 got through. Only 44 percent got through science. The schools are conducted only for 190 days per year and the first term is spent over sports activities. Usually between 20 and 30 percent of teachers are absent everyday, the spokesman said.

According to the majority of persons who expressed their views on the traffic problem and school hours, the relevant authorities have not paid enough attention to the heavy damage caused by morning and evening traffic jams in the city and the well-being of the schoolchildren. Both facts should be considered before changing any existing arrangements. If the schoolchildren learn more in the early morning they will absorb it properly and the office workers will start their day with a smile on their lips.

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