Oman transport: Indian School Muscat to trial run safe buses

Muscat: Indian School Muscat will send out letters to parents next month to introduce the “School Monitored Safe Transport System,” according to Wilson V George, Board of Directors’ Chairman of Indian Schools in the Sultanate.
The plan was first discussed in 2015 September. “Right now we will be studying the rates which we will be implementing for the school bus,” Wilson V George said.
During the initial stage, a few buses will ply on selected routes on a trial basis.
The school plans to cover all the routes as and when the requirements meet the minimum capacity to run on a route.
Around 10,000 children study in the Indian School Muscat.
According to George, most of the challenges have been resolved for the safe transport system in ISM. “We have different type of difficulties because of the size of the school and also the space constraint around the school,” an official of the school said.
Indian Schools in Darsait, Mabelah and Seeb have already implemented the safe transport system. “Seeing the success of this initiative, we are now focusing on it to stabilise the system rather than accommodate more students,” George added.
Parents of the children studying at ISM are very happy.
“We need our children to be safe when they go to school,” Biju, a mother of two of Indian School Muscat said.
The number of children travelling in the buses will be strictly limited to the seating capacity and as per the Indian School’s Board of Directors’ safe transport specifications and in line with the ROP and Ministry of Education safety guidelines.
As per the instructions of the transport core committee, the buses will be fitted with safety features, such as CCTV for monitoring students and drivers, seat belts as per the seating capacity, IVMS for monitoring the buses, emergency exit, well maintained seats and interiors etc.
Trained and experienced drivers have been recruited. To ensure the safety of the students, there will be a trained assistant or helper in the bus.
A school staff will be present in the bus to monitor the pick-up and drop-off of the students.