700,000 students on roads today... Gridlocks at opening time

Nearly 727,918 students of 1,276 public and private schools returned to classrooms today for the 2012-2013 academic year, with a call from the Minister of Education, Humaid Mohammed Al Qatami, to educators, administrators and learners and their guardians to work diligently and faithfully so as to elevate the learning process and deliver the state's strategic objectives for education.

Commuters who had braced themselves for traffic snarls as schools across the UAE reopened, were still taken aback by the gridlocks this morning, especially around schools that did not have parking facilities such as the ones in Discovery Gardens. Traffic management was made more prominent by its absence as there was no one to guide cars and buses that thronged the narrow two-lane road leading to the two schools in the area. Frustrated drivers had to resort to horns in the school zone.

Some 785 government schools welcomed 269,412 students while 458,508 students were to join 491 private schools.

A total of 29,332 teachers, technicians and administrators had already reported to work last Sunday. 

''While acting to implement directives of the country's leadership, the Ministry of Education has carried out a series pioneering initiatives and programmes to improve performance in government schools so as to set an educational model that is capable of addressing present challenges and unlocking creative potentials of both educators and learners,'' the minister said.

Anticipating a stressful commute is American national Brian Cox, whose two children study at Dubai American Academy.

Speaking with Emirates 24|7, he said: “Frankly, I am dreading the drive and plan on giving myself at least a 1.5 hour headstart to reach the school by 7.30am.”

Cox said he learned this the hard way, when last year’s first day commute to drop off the children took him an hour and a half instead of the anticipated 30 minutes.

“I am taking no chances with tardiness on the first day itself,” he said.

Jaagruti Kaur, whose children are studying at Gems Wellington Primary School, said: “For convenience, I have retained bus services for the entire year; however, because it’s the younger one’s first week in her ‘big school’, I thought best to drop and pick them up.”

Kaur said she has already mapped out an alternative route to get to school during those crucial first few days, saying: “I live in Bur Dubai, so the drive isn’t too bad for starters.

“However, I plan on skipping Sheikh Zayed Road entirely to avoid the mad dash of office workers and parents heading down that way.”

Kaur said Al Wasl Road or Jumeirah Beach Road is always less taxing and “safer when you have young children in the car and want to avoid maniacs attempting to race their way through traffic jams.”

Kaur isn’t the only one planning an alternate route, with Anne Muton, whose child studies in the International School of Choueifat on Al Sufuoh Road also said she planned on avoiding Sheikh Zayed Road completely.

“We live in Jumeirah 1, so it makes more sense to simply cruise down Beach Road and connect onto Al Sufouh this week,” she said.

“Especially since last year, I was involved in a car accident on my daughter’s first day at school thanks to a minivan transporting office workers in a hurry with no regards to safety of others.

“I decided to take my time, and leave 30 minutes earlier on Wednesday via a calmer route to school.”

Meanwhile, office workers such as Gary Stone, who commutes to Abu Dhabi every day, said: “Look, I leave at 6.45am every day to make it into work by 8.30am. There is no way I can leave any earlier.

“I already gave my office a heads up to anticipate a later arrival as schools open this week. That’s the best I can do.”

Jebel Ali worker, Gloria Rose said: “I am relying on the Metro these next few days to get me through the madness.

“It won’t be easy with the coordination of feeder buses; but travelling from Qusias to Jebel Ali during school opening week is drama I best avoid.”

The Dubai British School (DBS) in The Springs has some respite with a new traffic bridge.

“RTA has built a bridge across a highway between Springs 14, where many of students come from, and the school. We hope this will encourage more students to walk/cycle to school thus affecting traffic in the area,” Mark Ford, Principal, DBS said.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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