Children should not have to wake up at 5.30am to go to school, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said this morning.

Asked during a press conference about the White Paper on school opening hours and traffic congestion, Mr Bartolo said that the proposals have been met with vociferous reactions.

“As its title implies, it is just a White Paper – we are looking to get people’s feedback and suggestions to help solve the issue of traffic congestion.

“A number of different sectors contribute to traffic and not merely schools. Addressing schools in a vacuum will not solve the problem. There are many instances in summer where bottlenecks are created and schools have nothing to do with them.”

Staggering school times was already being adopted by many government schools. But many parents in church and independent schools often chose to drop off their children by car.

“There are transport agreements in these schools but these schools also have a wider catchment area than government schools. The Budget incentive was not enough – parents need more financial incentives to make it feasible for them to send their children to school on a van or bus.”