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Are the yellow buses safe?

The recent incident of child abuse in a school bus has prompted school transport providers to review the existing safety procedures. Though most schools outsource their transport requirements to specialised companies, school managements are making every effort to communicate their safety requirements to the transport providers.

School Transport Services (STS), one of the largest transport providers for school students in the UAE, which provides transport to over 44,000 students in 32 different schools has already announced plans to install CCTV cameras in more than 1,000 buses operated by the company.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, ML Augustine, managing director, STS confirmed that the entire fleet of school buses will be fitted with cameras by the end of the year and a dedicated team of personnel would monitor the buses from a control centre.”

STS already manages a dedicated control centre to track the movement of buses via satellite and the new system will comprehend the existing safety features provided by the company.

“We are trying our best to provide 100 per cent safety to our students and our drivers are briefed by special trainers every day,” added Augustine.

Advising parents to report any abnormal behaviour by drivers, the transport provider has requested parents to remain calm in the light of recent incidents of abuse.

Shabina Afazal who sends her 3-year-old daughter to a play school in Dubai feels safety measures currently in place are not enough to protect younger kids going to school.

“Although school authorities are investing in GPS systems and other technology, such incidents can happen to anyone. There is a real need to provide training to school pupils and the school management should make every effort to provide female bus conductors,” says Shabina.

Several other parents expressed concern over the inability of transport providers to hire female bus monitors.

“Schools can introduce cameras for buses, but the real solution is to hire female assistants to protect the children. Every bus should have a female assistant, a medical staff and a responsible teacher who should be available till the last stop and then only will the use of cameras be of any use,” says Anju Abil, another parent.

“Although we have outsourced our transport system, it is the school’s responsibility to protect the students once they get picked from their home. We ensure every bus has a female bus monitor to take care of the students during the journey,” says Guruswamy Kalloor, General Manager, JSS International School.

The school has reported no instances of abuse in its buses since it started two years ago.

“Parents receive an SMS when the school bus reaches near the bus stop. In case there is a delay, parents can go online and check where the school bus has reached. They can also call the bus drivers and ask them in case the bus is delayed,” he adds.

Taaleem schools also provide female bus monitors for students. “We have female bus monitors on all our buses as the kids are much safer when travelling with them,” says Tom Matthews, Projects Director, Taaleem.

School transport providers are required to meet guidelines issued by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and a special handbook titled ‘School Transport Manual’ stipulates the rules and guidelines for drivers, parents, attendants and school management highlighting the various aspects of travel safety for school students.

Readers shocked

Hundreds of readers expressed shock over the news of the alleged rape of a four-year-old girl student of a Dubai-based school.

“My child studies in this school. For the past six years, I have repeatedly raised this with the principal and vice-principal and also the KHDA website that girls travel alone often with two or more men. When my daughter was in grade 4, she was the only child in the bus on the way home. My husband therefore picked her up everyday for two years one way, though we paid for both ways for the bus. Every parent can’t do this. The school management is responsible. This issue was brought to their notice again and again. And about six months ago when my daughter was alone in the bus and there were three men in it, I did not allow her to travel. I have a car so it was easy for me. What about the other parents and children?”

—A.K. Dubai

“It is absolutely mortifying. What can you do in cases like this? Stop your children from taking the bus to school? This girl — and all such victims around the world — are going to be scarred for life by something they don’t even understand. All she’ll remember is the fear she felt at the time.

It’s sick that these people, who are old enough to have their own kids, can overlook childhood innocence to vent out their own sexual desires.

And it’s ridiculous that they feel ‘confident’ that the family of the child will not tell anyone and will ‘close’ the issue. Not to come across as a misanthrope, but I feel something akin to a public execution like those the world saw over the course of history is in order here. Public embarrassment is a small price to pay in the face of vile pedophilia. I just lost all my faith in humanity.”

— Anusha B., Abu Dhabi

“This is highly shameful, grossly shocking and absolutely unbelievable news that left me speechless. Sitting almost 10,000 miles away from UAE, a place where I had spent more than 16 fruitful years of my life with some memorable and historic events, it is unthinkable for me that something like this happening to a four-year-old girl, who after all is so innocent by nature and age that she can’t even tell or imagine that she has been a victim of such a heinous crime. I strongly appeal to the Ruler of Dubai to kindly investigate this matter with the best possible resources made available to the public prosecutors. If found guilty, the three people alleged to have caused this trauma should be hanged in public.”

— Dr Salaria Aamir Ahmad, St. Peters, Missouri, USA