Hundreds of school buses are to be given to government schools at the beginning of the next academic year at a cost of Dh65.5 million.
Emirates Transport will add the 230 additional buses to schools’ fleets to meet growing demands, in a move that was announced this year by the Minister of Education, Humaid Al Qatami.
During the board meeting in which the announcement was made, the first this year, Emirates Transport was also praised for its performance last year.
The board also celebrated the achievements of the Emirates Transport Award for Safety and Traffic Education in increasing participation from schools, parents and students.
Emirates Transport has also signed a new three-year contract with the Ministry of Education to manage transport, Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister paper of The National reported.
Under the terms of the new contract, The Ministry of Education has set out Dh310 million annually for the maintenance of 2,113 buses and the payroll of 2,113 drivers starting from the 2014-2015 academic year.
The renewed contract will provide transport for 111,330 pupils enrolled in 420 schools affiliated to the Ministry of Education, which accounts for approximately 76 per cent of the student population in government schools.
Marwan Al Sawalih, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, said that by renewing the contract with Emirates Transport they are ensuring the best service to their students and maintaining a great relationship with old partners as a model for cooperation between government services.
newsdesk@thenational.ae