Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
Muscat: A new road safety campaign geared towards making schools and school buses safer for children has been launched in Oman.
The Oman Road Safety Association, the Sultanate’s main community road safety education and awareness organisation, recently initiated its 'Safe to School, Safe to Home' campaign, to ensure that long-lasting, simple and effective school safety practices were followed by students, parents and school officials alike.
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The move will see ORSA provide valuable lessons in child and school safety to parents, teachers, drivers and school administrative officials.
The move comes in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNISDR) Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools (WISS), with ORSA acting as its local partner, and Ali Al Barwani, CEO of the road safety association, said that educating everyone involved with the plan is the only way that it will work.
ORSA is also asking the Ministry of Education to include school safety as part of the non-academic curriculum taught to children in schools.
Speaking exclusively to the Times of Oman, Al Barwani said: “We decided to launch this programme now, because this is normally the start of the new school term, both for Omani schools and international ones. Education is one of the most important things we must give our children, and we have to ensure that they are able to study in a safe place and it is our duty to look after their safety.”
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Education sessions
“For this to happen, we will be holding education sessions to inform everyone about the safe practices we all must follow as part of this 'Safe to School, Safe to Home' campaign,” he added.
“We will be educating teachers, administrators, drivers, parents, and of course, the students themselves. We need to start with the youngest children because they will understand these things quickly and will be able to tell their parents and teachers in case they forget.”
The move comes after a spate of bus accidents involved the death of schoolchildren over the past year or so.
About a week ago, an eight-year-old Sudanese boy died after being left behind in a school bus. Another student died and 12 more were injured in a bus accident in Adam in March of this year, while in January 2017, four children, a schoolteacher and two Omani drivers lost their lives in a tragic accident in Nizwa.
A month later, a 19-year-old engineering student at Sultan Qaboos University lost her life when the driver of the bus she was in drove off while she was exiting, leading to her abaya getting stuck in the door, tossing her body underneath the vehicle.”
“We want to introduce school safety lessons in a compulsory fashion in schools, but of course, this is not our decision to take,” said Al Barwani.
“We are meeting with officials from the Ministry of Education, because we need to stress the importance of school safety. It is one of the most important aspects of a child’s education and cannot be ignored.”
He explained that volunteers from ORSA and the traffic monitoring authorities would come to classrooms to explain and interact with students and teachers to tell them how to follow safe school crossing practices.
“We will go maybe once or twice a week to different schools across Oman to show them the right way,” he said.
“Currently, our programme has been launched in Muscat, and the next place we will be going to is Sur. If the teachers and students interact together as part of these campaigns, there will be a stronger and better understanding for both of them.”
“We will be going to the classes of the children from kindergarten, grade one and grade two to begin with,” added Al Barwani.
“When the buses come to school in the morning, the teacher must ensure that all the children have got off the bus and into the school. If any child is absent or missing, then the teacher must make sure that the parents and school know about this. Teachers must also not allow the students to scatter here and there when the buses come to pick them up. Otherwise, the children might get lost or get into the wrong bus and then you will have problems.”
Safety around buses played a very important role in the Safe to School, Safe to Home campaign, which is being supported by the Oman Oil Marketing Company.
“Teachers, parents and students must know which bus they are going into and must know the timetables of the buses, so that they know which one is the right one,” said Al Barwani.
“In case you feel that a certain bus looks strange or is not the regular one and you feel unsure, inform the school authorities because you cannot take any chances.”
“Bus drivers will also be taught not to use the phone when they are driving their vehicles,” he added. “Small children are very receptive to these things. The drivers must also make sure that all the children from the school bus get off the bus.”
ORSA had their first demonstration of their 'Safe to School, Safe to Home' campaign at Avenues Mall, where they set up a 'traffic village,' a miniature version of a school zone so that they could show children how to cross.
“We demonstrated to the parents and children how they needed to cross the roads properly, and gave them a series of fun challenges to do while they were there,” said Al Barwani.
“But of course, the parents have a responsibility here as well, in fact I would say that theirs is the biggest responsibility,” he added. “Parents should not allow the students to walk to the bus stop unattended, and must ensure that they get onto the bus. Only if everyone cooperates together on this can we build a safer society for everyone.”
Speaking to the Times of Oman, a parent, whose child goes to Indian School Muscat, said the school had started a WhatsApp messaging system for all parents on a bus route to keep track of where the bus was.
“The school informs us when the bus departs on its route and arrives at school with all the children, but it is the responsibility of the parents to tell the others on the group when the bus has left their building with the children,” she said. “The school has been extremely prompt with this system and all the parents contribute towards informing the others, if you take the school transport.”
“I used to walk to the bus stop with my child when he was smaller, and I still do, although he is a teenager,” she added.
“They may not like it much, but a lot of parents do this to ensure the safety of their children and there are many whom I see in the morning at the bus stop. This is the safety of our children, after all, and we cannot take it lightly.”
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360-degree education for better school safety
Parents: Walk with your child to the bus stop in the morning, don’t leave your child on his own, make sure he gets onto the right bus, make sure you know the bus timetables, if new to the area, go to the school a couple of times with your child to make sure he is going to the right school
Teachers: Don’t allow students to scatter, they might get lost, make sure all the children are off the bus in the morning, and on it in the afternoon
if a child is absent and others don’t know the reason, inform the school and parents, if you see a child sitting alone in a bus looking out of place, inform the authorities
Drivers: Don’t use your phone while on the bus, make sure all the children are on and off the bus, if a child is absent, clarify with the parents and let the teachers know, drive the bus properly, and not in a reckless manner
