Wednesday 25 / December / 2024
Muscat: While greater transport security for school-going children continues to bother parents, when it comes to paying for the same, they seem to be reluctant.
Close to 70 per cent of Indian School students’ parents are still not convinced to pay more for the enhanced bus safety measures for their children.
Speaking to the Times of Oman (TOO), Wilson George, chairman, Board of Directors, Indian schools in Oman, said around 70 per cent of parents are still not convinced that the new safety measures are the need of the hour because of the current financial situation.
“Affordability can be a factor, which prevents many from paying more, only 30 per cent are ready to pay more,” George said.
The other challenge the Board is grappling with is that the schools are trying to get into a business they haven’t been in before.
“They don’t have the experience or the expertise to do this job. So it is taking time for them to get attuned to the challenges of implementing the system,” he said.
There are still a number of issues that need to be addressed to make the existing school transport system safe in our three schools, which would satisfy the parents, George added.
He also spoke about some resistance on the part of the existing transporters when it came to implementing the safety and security measures as they are currently operating at lower price levels and implementing such measures would directly impact their returns.
Meanwhile, a transporter named Rajeev, who has been in the business for the last 35 years, said they (transporters) will follow all regulations set by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) and other ministries. “We are not reluctant to add any safety features to the vehicles transporting children. Schools should call for a meeting with us, safety experts and parents. Parents should be convinced about the extra cost for adopting safety measures,” Rajeev added.
Another transporter said school officials have not yet called for a meeting to discuss safety measures for school buses.
“Without calling us and parents for a meeting, how can school officials allege that we are not cooperating and are reluctant to adopt advanced safety measures in the buses?” Roy Joseph EK, a transporter for the last 27 years, said.
Extra burden
Parents, however, feel the school should not pass on the extra burden on the students. “They have already raised the tuition fees by OMR3 from this month. I think the school should bear these expenses as the schools have started managing the school bus,” Kaveri, a mother of two studying in Indian School Muscat said.
However, M Saha, another expat said he is ready to pay the entire amount. “When it comes to the security of our child, I think we shouldn’t compromise on the money part,” he said.
George also said safety of school children is becoming the biggest concern and that the school board is committed to providing safe transportation for all.
Under the safe transport project, the children will be allowed in buses only as per the vehicle’s seating capacity.
Attendants will be compulsory in every bus. Cameras will be installed inside and outside the vehicle. The rear camera will help avoid any accident that may take place because of a child or other object behind the vehicle.
The vehicles will be covered by an In Vehicle Monitoring System (IVMS). It will also help the safety committee monitor the bus speed, driving, etc.
“We have started this in three Indian schools till now and very soon we will start the same in Indian School Muscat,” he said.
Shiv Gupta, chief executive officer of Cirkle IT Solutions LLC, which has developed a student tracking software, said they are in talks with several schools to implement a safe transportation system to prevent any type of accident.
“This software will help in identifying children boarding school buses and verifying the boarding time and place of each student.
“The software will also help locate and verify the disembarking point and time for each student and will send updates to parents that their children have safely reached school or home,’ he said.
He also pointed out that the software will alert the bus driver if any student tries to board the wrong school bus or if any student is left behind in the bus. “Besides that it will monitor the live location and path of each school bus on its daily trips and CCTV camera to record the events taking place inside the buses,” Gupta stated.
The software will also check the use of mobile phones while driving and issue alerts in case of reckless driving. “Some private schools have started implementing this and are now in talks with other schools to implement this feature for safe transportation of the children,” he said.
