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Cartoon characters promote use of school buses

DUBAI — Soon kids travelling by school buses would get to see some of their favourite cartoon characters giving them gifts, making them laugh and also teaching them about road safety.

In a bid to reduce the everyday traffic hiccups in Dubai and make the students understand the importance of the school buses, the Dubai Municipality and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will kick off a campaign which would see specially trained guides sharing the bus with the students and interacting with them during the whole trip. Five schools have been chosen for this.

The municipal officials say they want to talk to the school students about the advantages of using school buses so that the traffic situation can be controlled in Dubai. "Though many students use school buses, there are a majority who travel by cars driven by their parents or my other means. We want all the students to travel by school buses. This would ensure that the excess pressure on the roads is eased off to an extent," said an official.

According to the officials, they have chosen and trained a set of people who would be present in the buses dressed as cartoon characters. "We want the children to have fun while learning. And the kids are always in awe when it comes to cartoon characters. They love them and are attracted to them. So these guides would be dressed in the same way. They have been provided with special training. They will also distribute gifts and sweets to the kids while they are learning," added the official.

The school selected for this purpose include Cambridge School at Garhoud, Dubai International School and the Al Mawakeb School. The remaining two schools would be selected shortly. The campaign which takes off on Sunday would begin with the five schools and move to other Dubai private and public schools in the emirate, the officials said.