ABU DHABI // Parents hope that an overhaul of the emirate's school transport system, announced yesterday, will improve safety standards on buses. The Department of Transport (DoT) in Abu Dhabi said that it would reform school transportation to encourage more parents to use buses rather than opting to drive their children to class themselves, but details of how they hope to achieve that remain unclear.
Hashim al Hashimi, the public transport director at the DoT said the changes would "ensure that we have a safe, viable and environmentally sustainable means of school transport". The use of school buses has become less popular recently, following the deaths of two children. Aatish Shabin, a three-year-old who had been at the Merryland Kindergarten in Abu Dhabi for barely a month, died after being locked in a school bus for several hours in April 2008.
A year later, Aimann Zeeshanuddin, 4, suffered heat stoke and dehydration after being left in a private minibus which took her to school. Rachel Sykes, a British school teacher and mother of two, said school buses had never been an option offered at her children's school. "There has never been a bus offered to us in Abu Dhabi," she said. "Everybody seems to drive, so there is a big problem with congestion at our school at Al Khabirat."
Seat belts should be mandatory on all school buses, she said, while younger children should have some form of parental supervision. What the reforms will entail is still not clear, but the department hopes to address parents' concerns over the buses. These can range from concerns about safety to worries about having special spaces set aside for ruck sacks and school books. "We believe the new school travel reforms initiative, in co-ordination with Abu Dhabi Education Council, will yield significant benefits for ourselves, our local economy and the environment at large," said Mr al Hashimi.
"The traffic congestion on our roads has dire consequences for our well-being and for the environment." No deadline for the introduction of the scheme was given. Last September, Dubai introduced strict new regulations concerning school buses, which will be enforced by fines imposed on schools. Buses must be yellow, have a speed limit of 80kph and an air conditioning system set to 21°C. In October, the Ministry of Education earmarked Dh230 million for school bus supervisors, which is now a requirement on all buses carrying primary school children.
Adec also commissioned an audit of their schools, which will include the safety of the school buses, and will put in place provisions for picking up and dropping off pupils. Rasha al Osh, a 30-year-old mother from Syria, said: "The new buses seem safe. Safety does seem more important than before." However, with the bus service costing Dh8,000 per student per year, she questioned its convenience and practicality, particularly when it comes to families with more than one child.
The commute would often leave her children in considerable discomfort, she said. "My daughter is often sick from being on the bus for so long. It takes a long time to get to school on the bus - more than one hour. But driving them to school myself only takes five minutes." As well as parents and schools, the DoT will consult with bus operators, drivers, the Abu Dhabi Police, the education council and Urban Planning Council.
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