News that a six-year-old girl was left on a locked school bus parked in an industrial area in Ajman has, quite rightly, generated disbelief and anger. That it happened just seven months after the death of a three-year-old Abu Dhabi girl in similar circumstances – and with that case still going through the courts – only adds to the inherent frustrations of the situation. It is self-evident that children's safety is too important to be dealt with so casually. We must be thankful that the Ajman girl, identified only as MMH, is alive and well, but this is due only to the vigilance of a passer-by, not those charged with keeping her safe.
As The National has reported, MMH is believed to have fallen asleep on the bus, and the vehicle was not checked before it was parked. If not for the passer-by – who must be commended for alerting police – the little girl could have stayed trapped on the bus through the heat of the day. The potential consequences of that are too awful to contemplate. Although the bus driver has been charged, that must not be the end of the matter. The authorities must address reports that nobody noticed the girl was missing even though she was logged on the bus attendance sheet. It appears that there was a systemic failure – or at least one of attention to detail. This needs to be addressed so that a similar lapse does not happen again, not in Ajman, not in Abu Dhabi, not anywhere.
How might that be done? Technology can help. For instance, children could be issued with swipe cards that register when they get on and off the bus. But there is always a timelag when it comes to technology and nothing can replace the simple checks rigorously performed by a responsible adult to make sure that that each bus is empty and every child accounted for. In the Abu Dhabi case, the supervisor was a cleaner who said she was unwillingly drafted into the job. Though you don’t need a university degree to supervise children, it is a responsible job and ought perhaps to be done by senior staff or teachers on a rotational basis. Parents could also become involved, as they are in the US, by volunteering as monitors who travel with the children to ensure they behave during the trip and that they get on and off the bus safely. Whoever does this job must be responsible and aware of the consequences of any error. Above all, they must be punctilious about it.
