ABU DHABI // Pupils will benefit from 343 new school buses being introduced by Emirates Transport this academic year, said a senior official.
At present, 234,000 public and private pupils across the country travel to 727 schools every day on 5,240 Emirates Transport buses, with 5,072 drivers and 4,200 supervisors on board.
The 343 new vehicles will upgrade the fleet.
“We would like to provide a comfortable and safe journey for pupils and to enhance their learning experience,” said Jasim Al Shair, acting executive director of Emirates Transport’s school transport division.
The new buses are part of a series of measures implemented by Emirates Transport in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Abu Dhabi Education Council.
Adec operates public schools in Abu Dhabi and regulates private schools, while the ministry manages public schools in all the other emirates.
Last year, Emirates Transport and Adec launched the smart safety systems on Abu Dhabi school buses to make sure all pupils are accounted for.
There are 2,500 school buses in Abu Dhabi emirate, covering 254 schools.
Of those, 1,300 buses for kindergarten and grade 1 to 5 pupils were fitted last year with an electronic count system to monitor children getting on and off, a bus-checking system and a motion detecting system.
“The introduction of these safety systems was accompanied by a campaign targeting the corporation’s drivers and bus supervisors,” said Mr Al Shair. “It’s to ensure that they are well-prepared to implement school transport safety and security measures.”
School bus drivers and supervisors are trained on defensive driving, traffic safety awareness, daily inspection of buses, safe boarding and disembarking, first aid, emergency procedures and fire safety.
A team of school transport coordinators monitors bus drivers and supervisors while on duty to ensure they follow specific instructions and guidelines.
The moves were implemented in February last year as a response to the death of a 3-year-old pupil of Al Worood Academy Private School who was locked on a school bus in October 2014.
Despite the measures, parents and schools are still being urged to play a more active role in keeping children safe and ensuring no one is lost or left behind on a school bus.
“You can have all the high technology in the world but it doesn’t replace a very clear understanding of the duty of care,” said Judith Finnemore, of Focal Point Management Consultancy.
“This means parents checking to see their child is safely aboard, bus attendants and drivers checking seat belts are being worn and insisting on it by stopping the bus if they are removed, and the same people actively checking the bus.”
Schools need to take proper registers as early as possible in the day, she said.
“This is vigilance,” Ms Finnemore said. “You can’t invent a device for it. Anything less than vigilance is laziness and incompetence.”
A school transport regulations guidebook issued by the Department of Transport in 2013 spells out the responsibilities of all school transport operators, schools directly providing bus services and parents.
Parents should designate a person to meet children aged 11 or younger from the bus at the scheduled time and place. They should educate their children on safe bus-riding behaviour and embarking and disembarking.
Subramoniam S, 48, an electronics engineer in Abu Dhabi, said his wife accompanies their 14-year-old daughter to and from the bus stop, and waits until the school bus arrives.
“We tell her to always hold the handrail when she gets on and off the bus,” he said. “She has to remain seated while the bus is in motion. After she gets off the bus, she should walk safely from the side of the bus and never walk behind the bus.”
rruiz@thenational.ae