Anti-smog measures: EPA urges schools to promote carpooling

LAHORE: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Punjab has urged schools across the province, particularly in Lahore, to promote carpooling among students, parents and staff to reduce the number of private vehicles on roads and help contain vehicular emissions as the city braces for another spell of smog.

In a letter to Secretary School Education Department, EPA Director General Abdullah Nayyar Sheikh said the prevailing air-quality situation, particularly during peak morning hours, coupled with heavy traffic congestion on major roads, required pre-emptive measures to reduce vehicular emissions.

He said high traffic volumes, idling and slow-moving vehicles were increasing particulate emissions and contributing to urban air pollution and smog.

The EPA has asked the School Education Department and educational institutions to make carpooling part of their anti-smog measures by facilitating shared transport arrangements for students, parents and school staff travelling from common neighbourhoods or along similar routes.

The agency has proposed that schools identify residential clusters and routes where multiple families are making separate trips to the same institution and encourage them to share vehicles. Schools could maintain route-wise carpool lists and coordinate parents and staff to facilitate such arrangements.

The initiative is particularly relevant to Lahore, where school opening and closing times coincide with some of the busiest traffic periods. Environmental authorities believe reducing the number of vehicles making repeated journeys to educational institutions at almost identical times could help ease congestion as well as lower emissions.

Abdullah Nayyar Sheikh stressed that carpooling should be a practical and sustained component of anti-smog planning rather than merely a symbolic campaign. He said schools, parents and staff needed to play an active role in reducing unnecessary vehicle movement, particularly during peak morning hours when stagnant atmospheric conditions can compound the impact of traffic emissions and other pollution sources.

The EPA has also emphasised that the proposed initiative should not place an additional financial burden on families. Instead, schools have been asked to adopt a facilitative approach by helping parents organise shared transport arrangements.

The proposal has been circulated among senior officials, including the Secretary Environment Protection and Climate Change Department, Chief Minister’s Office, Additional Director General Operations EPA, Chief Executive Officer District Education Authority Lahore and President Private School Education Association Lahore.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026