Carpooling success depends on parents

CHENNAI: Car-pooling might sound like an alien (or Western) concept, but when you look a little closer it is evident that people have been indulging in it sans the title. However, it still means different things to different people. S Veena, who is in the midst of enrolling her child in a school, says that finding parents of students enrolled in the same school is a daunting task. “It is difficult to identify them and even if we manage that, as parents, our primary concern is  that even if one child is late for school, the other kids will also end up being late,” she rues. On the cusp of an ExNoRa campaign to increase Car-pooling held at the Presentation Convent, Chuch Park on Thursday,  parents concerns came to the fore. For schools that have been actively creating awareness among students to encourage their parents to give car pooling a shot, the ultimate responsibility, they say, lies with parents. “We have been addressing the issue in assemblies. Most of them use the school transport, and carpooling also happens, but its success depends on the individuals concerned,” says S Amudha Lakshmi, Principal, Chettinad Vidyashram.Taking a similar stance, Valli Arunachalam, Principal, PSBB Nungambakkam, says that the school has issued circulars to spread awareness about carpooling among parents. Senior Principal, Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyasharam, Kilpauk, J Ajeeth Prasad Jain feels there are few takers for it. “Yes, we had students who worked on creating awareness about the car pooling system here. Carpooling is definitely on but not to the extent that we expected,” he says.Sheerene Mohamed, President of the Eco-Club in Church Park says that close to 20 students have been driving to school together for the last couple of years.“As part of today’ s  programme(11.11.11 campaign), we even had a census on number of kids who did carpooling  with  their family members to reach school, we found that  out of 240 middle school students, 10-15 students weren’t. We are working on helping them be absorbed into car pooling. But it is difficult to convince parents,” admits Geetha. Some of the benefits of carpooling are lower fuel consumption, lower emission, less traffic congestion.