La Martiniere for Boys on Saturday cancelled its scheduled meetings with parents to discuss if they

could pool cars after the state government revoked its recently-issued directive to private schools asking them to introduce a system of buses or car pooling by parents for ferrying students.

Education minister Partha Chatterjee told The Telegraph on Saturday the directive had been withdrawn because schools alone could not solve the city’s pollution and traffic congestion problems.

Chatterjee said he had no earlier information about the directive sent to the schools and that he had not given any “instruction to anyone in this regard”.

He has called for the “entire file” from the department officials on the basis of which the directive had been issued to the schools, he said.

“The pollution problem is not limited to places around schools. The problem (pollution) is everywhere in the state, in India. It is a global problem. How can one expect that pollution will reduce by just asking schools to stop their students from coming in cars. The directive has been withdrawn. It will never be implemented in any form in the future,” Chatterjee told The Telegraph.

The directorate of school education had sent a directive to 26 schools in the city in the past few days saying private vehicles would not be allowed to ferry children to school and only pool cars and buses would be allowed.

On the basis of the directive, La Martiniere for Boys had issued a circular asking parents of all students to arrange for alternatives and warned them that the school would not be responsible if their private vehicles were stopped by the “transport authority” after April 1.

On Saturday, the school’s principal wrote to parents: “Kindly be informed that the meetings with the principal regarding the transportation of students to and from school stands cancelled.”

Supriyo Dhar, secretary of the La Martiniere schools, said: “We had sent a circular and were holding meetings with parents to apprise them of the directorate of school education’s letter. We can inform the parents but not impose it on them. After the government revoked it we cancelled the meetings.”

Minister Chatterjee said henceforth it would be made mandatory for education department officials to get his approval before issuing any directive to schools.

The directive that was issued to the 26 schools had read: “… A system of buses or carpool (as applicable) for transportation of students, not later than 1st April 2020, by taking necessary options from the guardians/parents of such students who might be using personal vehicles for their wards. The use of personal vehicles for ferrying students to and from the school should only be allowed in very emergent and exceptional cases against proper justification.”

Chatterjee said pollution and traffic congestion on roads problems needs to be solved and the state government was concerned about it.

“But the education department can’t solve the problem alone. Asking the schools not to allow parents to drop their children to schools in private cars will also not help. We can find a proper solution if there is coordination between environment department, police, transport department and education department,” he said.