Bengaluru: Private vehicles coming to drop children at school literally alway find themselves on the road – They are not allowed inside the campus. They create traffic jams on a daily basis. Concerned over traffic jams, many schools have already staggered exit timings of children, but it has not helped much. This is true of schools across the state.

The police stepped in yesterday, issuing instructions to all the schools to to allow private vehicles dropping children to park on campus. But many institutions showed reluctance to come on board – reasons cited were many – from non-availability of space for play area, to children’s safety.

Robert Khin, principal, Bethany High School, Koramangala, said police may have framed the rules to reduce congestion but providing parking space will eat into children’s play area. “Our school premises are small. Implementing the guidelines will be tough as we don’t have adequate space to park our own buses,” he said.

Susan Roy, principal, St Paul’s English School, said it is difficult to allot space to private vehicles picking and dropping children and it would compromise safety.

Some schools are planning to move court on the issue. Isabella Simon, principal, The Cathedral High School, said: “We have decided to file a joint peti tion along with some other institutions that are against this decision. We cannot accept the terms and conditions of the new guidelines because kids’ safety is at stake.”

Some school authorities pointed out that if premises are crowded with cars, children won’t have space to play. Indira Williams, principal of Baldwin Girls High School, said a lot of space is required for co-curricular activities and physical education. “Moreover, we need to keep children’s safety in mind. Schools will not have details of private vehicle drivers,” Williams said.

“In a city like Bengaluru, schools are not spread over acres. They have limited space. Vehicles will disturb their peaceful ambience,” said K Venkatesh, principal, Ashwini Public School, Laggere.