Sharjah
We live near the Muweilah school zone in Sharjah, where 15 schools are functioning and a few others in the construction stage.
A regular morning scene can be seen in the photograph. The narrow roads are always congested with school buses and cars, as motorists drop off their children. Students reach many of these schools quite late, and this is a daily problem due to the traffic congestion in this area.
Parents who live nearby are also forced to send their children by school buses or cars, since the path to the schools, which is almost a kilometre long, is not paved and quite dusty. Many students who are even willing to walk or ride a bicycle, cannot do this because of the current condition of the road. Those who walk to school can be seen wearing masks, due the dust rising in the air from the unpaved road.
Environment friendly transport and a greener lifestyle is what we constantly hear about and talk about, and what is taught in all educational curriculum. If the pavements are paved or a cycling track or pedestrian track is made, it would encourage a lot of students to walk or bike to school from the nearby residential blocks.
Additionally, it would reduce the dust in this area considerably.
I hope authorities will look into the situation, as it would do a lot to reduce carbon emissions. Improvements in this area would also positively impact the health of students and reduce parents’ stress, as they try to drop off their children to school on time.
The reader is based in Sharjah.
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