WATANI International
31 May 2009
Back home after a short holiday in the south of Germany it was business as usual for me in Cairo. But, predictably and as in the case of all Egyptians who travel abroad, it was impossible to avoid comparisons between ‘abroad’ and Egypt.
Germany is a beautiful country. The mental image conjured with most Egyptians once Germany is mentioned is that of superb order, seriousness and utmost efficiency. Yet Germany is a land of astounding natural beauty, rich history, and significant culture and art. My holiday in Germany led me to take different roads to various destinations. I travelled through highways, ring roads, main roads and side roads, all through which a sense of safety and comfort prevailed owing to the strict order and discipline which governed the movement on the roads. The excellent road planning and engineering as well as the disciplined driving provided a pleasurable experience.
Many Egyptians end up discouraged and disheartened when they compare between Egypt and countries of the first world. The comparison is indeed highly unfavourable where our country is concerned, but it is my belief that, instead of allowing frustration or despair to set in, we might as well attempt to change the conditions that draw us backwards. Egyptians have been able to excel in certain domains; it is worthwhile to extend the excellence to other domains that call for improvement.
One particular fact drew my attention. Contrary to what is so common in Egypt, no school buses ever travelled the highways, freeways, or main roads in Germany. I had to remind myself that this is normal practice in all developed countries. In Egypt, however, school buses navigate our main roads carrying thousands of children to and from school. Worse, it has become a familiar sight to find schools built in locations overlooking the main roads and highways. This is a mortal sin where urban and road planning are concerned, especially considering that these are not higher study institutions I mean, but elementary, preparatory, and secondary schools.
It is a basic principle in urban planning that the elementary school is the nucleus of the residential neighbourhood, so that it would be within walking distance for the children, without the need to cross any main road. Preparatory and secondary schools are situated within the commercial and service centre of the neighbourhood, again at a safe distance from the main road network. It is also a basic planning principle that satellite towns are planned away from the mother town at a distance which discourages daily shuttling between both. Moreover, the sale of land overlooking the roads travelling between the mother and satellite towns is banned in order to secure the border of each and avoid the possibility that future unchecked urban expansion would mushroom, joining the mother and satellite towns into one giant, unmanageable metropolis.
All this absolutely contradicts with the urban planning applied in Egypt. A look at the satellite towns around Cairo—on all east, west, and south sides—and the roads connecting them to the capital, leaves one aghast at the unsound planning. The land overlooking the roads was divided into plots which have been allocated to various projects, not a few of them schools—constituting thus a potential time bomb lying in wait to blow up any time. And the victims will be our children.
The most appalling aspect of the peril is that the situation has become so commonplace it ceases to frighten anyone. The modern schools overlooking the main roads are among the most prestigious and attract parents who wish to provide their children with exceptional education and are willing to pay whatever it costs to do so. To ask such parents to abandon these schools and enrol their children in inner city schools is next to absurd. Yet the truth is that our children, who are bundled in buses or cars that have to travel the freeway daily, are in dire peril. And it definitely does not help that our roads are among the most perilous in the world.
The only way out of this ghastly predicament is to discipline the traffic on the freeways—but this is a different story the discussion of which is long overdue.
