Move schools away from roads, electrify buses to save kids from poor air: Experts

Experts also pushed for installing air-quality monitors outside schools, similar to those at Delhi construction sites.

Areas outside schools must be made more pedestrian-friendly, experts said on Tuesday as they called for relocating new schools away from main roads, and mandating electrification of school buses to reduce children’s exposure to toxic air.

A panel of experts at the ICTS 2025 during a roundtable discussion on how to make areas outside schools more pedestrian-friendly. (HT Photo)

The suggestions came during a roundtable at the India Clean Transportation Summit 2025 on the theme “From School Gates to City Streets – prioritising children’s health and mobility.” Experts also pushed for installing air-quality monitors outside schools, similar to those at Delhi construction sites, to raise awareness among parents and administrators.

Dr Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, member and secretary, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), said air pollution was the most pressing issue of our time, with an even greater impact on children. “If we are working towards the goal of Viksit Bharat, we can only do it on the shoulders of young people, and therefore, we have to take care of them,” he said. Bajpayee noted that over the past eight months, CAQM had begun transforming road networks in Delhi and eight other NCR cities into dust-free corridors.

He added that CAQM’s Standard Framework required new road projects to prioritize people, not just vehicles. “A good carriageway must come with walkways and green areas,” he said, adding that all stakeholders had accepted the approach.

Highlighting the problems with current urban planning, Mona Sreenivas, IAS, CEO of the Sonepat Metropolitan Development Authority, said most prominent schools function from busy main roads.

“They do it for prominence, but it creates chaos. There is no space for parking or buses. Instead of neighbourhood schools that children can walk to, parents prefer prestigious schools that force long commutes,” she said.

Several speakers called for urgent electrification of school transport fleets. Swagata Dey, group head, Air Quality Policy and Outreach at CSTEP, said while many Delhi schools have ample funds, few have shifted to electric buses. “There needs to be a mandate. Dropping kids by car is also a habit that must change,” she said.

Aswathy Dilip, South Asia director, Institute of Transport and Development Policy, stressed that better streets form the foundation of mobility. “Even if you have clean buses, children need safe access to them,” she said, citing Pimpri Chinchwad’s experience of using green bonds to revamp streets despite resistance from vehicle owners. “It is important to meet such pushback with data,” she added.