The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) and the Bacolod Traffic and Transport Management Department (BTTMD) have intensified preparations to ensure a safe and secure opening of classes today.
Capt. Ma. Liberty Indiape, public information officer of BCPO, said June 13 that all 10 police stations have been ordered to secure the schools located in their respective areas of coverage.
“We will deploy beat patrollers in every school. Mobile patrol units will also go around the areas where schools are located,” she said in a Philippine News Agency report.
Police officers will monitor and secure learners and teachers from the start of the classes this morning until the dismissal in the afternoon, Indiape said.
Meanwhile, Jose Antonio Robello, deputy head of BTTMD, advised parents and guardians to leave early to allow extra time for travel as heavy congestion is expected around major schools.
“Carpool when possible. This reduces the number of vehicles and eases congestion,” he said.
He advised Bacolodnons to find alternate routes and familiarize themselves with backroads to avoid traffic jams in the city’s two major thoroughfares, as well as to follow school-assigned drop-off and pick-up areas to prevent roadside chaos.
Robello also asked drivers to respect one-way traffic rules and instructions from traffic enforcers as many roads around schools are temporarily designated one-way for the start of classes.
To ensure safety of schoolchildren, he encouraged adults to teach children to use sidewalks and pedestrian lanes, especially on busy roads, as well as to cross only at designated crosswalks.
The Negros Occidental High School, meanwhile, urged parents and students, as well as teaching and non-teaching personnel to follow instructions for the “effective management of school gates and smooth traffic flow of pedestrians.”
“As we open our gates to welcome the 9,300 learners and 400+ teaching and non-teaching personnel, please be guided with the…NOHS Office Memorandum No. 05 for the effective management of school gates and smooth traffic flow,” the school said in a post June 15.
Learners should fall in line for entrance and exit at the gate, use only the Araneta and Hernaez gates for entrance and exit, are discouraged from bringing their own vehicle, if any, and should be dropped off and fetched by their parents with vehicles at the Hernaez Gate only, it added. ||
