ABU DHABI // Now is the time for parents to have their say about how their children are transported to and from school. The Abu Dhabi Educational Council (Adec) will launch a survey tomorrow on its website (www.adec.ac.ae), with questions about methods of transportation, length of the daily trips and overall safety. Adec said the survey was part of efforts to upgrade education services. "One of the major features of a secure city lies in the safety of school transportation," said Mugheer al Khaili, Adec's director general.
"Strategies are needed to reduce the use of vehicles and buses which contribute to traffic jams and air pollution." The parents' comments will be taken into account by education and municipality officials, road engineers and health and environment authorities. Adec is keen to receive feedback on the quality of educational services, Dr al Khaili said, adding that the survey would be provided in Arabic and English.
One area will focus on safety. In April 2008, a three-year-old boy, Aatish Shabin, died after being left in the back of a school bus for more than three hours at the Merryland Kindergarten. An investigation concluded that he died of respiratory arrest rather than heat exhaustion or suffocation, but the kindergarten was fined Dh5,000 (US$1,360) and ordered to address its safety shortcomings. Last May, a four-year-old Pakistani girl, Aiman Zeeshanuddin, died of heat stroke and dehydration after being left alone on the private minibus that carried her to the Indian Model School in Musaffah.
Parents yesterday, welcomed the opportunity to air their views. Manal, 34, a Syrian financial worker, said the school bus took an hour and a half to bring her two sons, Ayham, who is in the sixth grade, and Omar, who is in the third, to their school in Mohammed bin Zayed City from their house in Hamdan Street. "The bus is convenient in the sense that we as parents don't have to waste that time dropping our children," she said.
"However, it is not the best method because there are many problems in the bus, especially when the children are younger. There are kid bullies." Although the school has added a supervisor to the bus, she said there were still some problems. "Students from all ages are on the same bus," she said, "and the school can't really distribute them any other way because they are distributed based on the roads they live in. They already have 50 buses in their school. They leave the house at 6.30am, and it is still dark at that time. Then they come back late in the afternoon at three."
Hanadi Jarar, 44, a Jordanian housewife, said the school bus that carries her seventh-grade daughter, Tasnim, takes an hour and 10 minutes to reach the school. "We've been waiting for a chance to voice our concerns to the education council for a long time," she said. "We live on Najda Street and my daughter's school is in Musaffah. The road is not only congested but extremely dangerous as well, since all the trucks are heading in that direction."
She said even the supervisors on board always tell her that the highway is quite unsafe. "I usually make five to six calls to the bus supervisor on rainy or foggy days," she said. "I suggest that trucks and heavy vehicles should not be allowed to be on the same road as school buses during their drop times." hdajani@thenational.ae