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ome parents said their children were excited to start school on Monday, while others reported their tiny charges were anxious.

Almost everyone, however, had an opinion about traffic in Jakarta.

“The roads were absolutely congested in the morning. But that’s the way it is on the first day of school,” Dian, one of Jakarta’s busy mothers, said as she hustled to get her children to school on Monday.

The first day of school after the holiday recess saw Jakarta’s streets clogged with cars and motorcycles as parents drove their children to school.

The Jakarta Police Traffic Management Center (TMC) reported congestion throughout Jakarta on Monday morning.

The TMC said no one was injured in the several accidents reported on Monday. With some children anxious about entering a new school for the first time, parents had to lend a consoling ear.

“I wanted my daughter to go to school on her own, but she insisted that I come along for her first day,” Maida Wati, the mother of first-grade student Alia Soliha, told The Jakarta Post.

Maida said Alia was previously eager to start school when she suddenly got cold feet.

“She was so enthusiastic about elementary school. In fact, she refused to attend her last days of kindergarten because she wanted to go straight to elementary school.”

Another parent, Nia Rachman in Ciputat, South Tangerang, said she took her daughter to school on a motorcycle to avoid traffic congestion.

Nia said that her 7-year-old was so enthusiastic about going to her first day in second grade because she wanted to show off her new shoes.

“She was going to a nature school and during her first year in school she only put on sandals. I bought her a new pair of sneakers this weekend and she tried them on all the time,” Nia said.

Not all new students were as cheerful as Nia’s daughter on Monday. Students at Ketapang Christian School (SKK) spent the first day of school in a makeshift classroom in run-down building that was once a car dealership in Kedoya, West Jakarta.

The school has been in limbo due to a dispute about the land on which the school stands, prompting students and teachers to move from one place to another.

“We rented this old building for a two-year period. At least for the next two years we won’t have to move anymore,” SKK official Ana Purnamawati said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) set up a hotline on Monday for parents to report the bullying and hazing that regularly occurs during school orientation.

Parents who suspect that their children have been bullied during orientation can call 02131901446 or visit the KPAI’s office in Menteng, Central Jakarta, from July 11 to July 18. (awd)