Although school hours had a relative impact on traffic congestion, there were wider issues evident by the continuation of the problem in summer that needed to be targeted before implementing any rush decisions, Studenti Demokristjani Maltin said this afternoon.

The government yesterday launched a white paper on traffic congestion and whether schools could play a role in alleviating this challenge. Its aim is to provide an overview of the school operational logistics and transport system and find ways on whether this can help minimise traffic across the country.

It said in a statement the government should focus on bigger issues such as the public transport, and also offer incentives to promote car pooling and the use of other means of transportation such as motorbikes and bicycles.

“Whilst it is encouraging that traffic is not seen as a perception anymore, we believe that more reasonable and effective methods can be used to tackle this problem.

“This is why we fully agree with the proposition that a nationwide transportation-system for students is organised according to the localities rather than the individual schools,” SDM said.