ABU DHABI // Drivers are being trained to inspect their vehicles before and after each trip for safety after a tragedy in which a young girl died after being locked in a school bus.
“They are carrying precious cargo, our children who are our country’s future,” said Namaan Jameel, the acting head of theory training at Emirates Driving Company (EDC) in Mussaffah.
“How many accidents have happened in recent years? How many of them were sad stories of children being locked inside a bus?
“What if the bus drivers and bus supervisors involved received proper training? Yes, accidents do happen but we could have prevented them.”
Since 2013, Mr Jameel has worked on a training curriculum to equip school bus drivers and bus attendants with theory and practical skills.
“In addition to routine vehicle checks, they are also trained to check under all seats to ensure there is no hiding or sleeping student,” he said.
As part of the new regulations announced this month by the School Transport Executive Committee in Abu Dhabi, all school bus drivers and bus attendants are required to take both theoretical and practical training at EDC. The curriculum was approved by the transport executive committee.
Bus drivers must complete 15 hours of theory and nine hours of practical tuition.
Topics include a driver’s duties and responsibilities, the technical basics of a school bus, driving performance and defensive driving, customer service skills, ethics and professional practices, and safe boarding and disembarking procedures.
They are also trained to perform daily inspections and prepare a vehicle safety checklist, practise parallel parking, turning and reversing in a T-shaped area and angle parking area, conduct emergency evacuation and drive in traffic.
Bus attendants are required to complete five hours of theory lessons and two hours of practical training on emergency evacuation, first aid, school bus boarding and disembarking, post-trip inspections and keeping children out of danger zones.
This month the transport executive committee announced new regulations, including mandatory seat belts, medical tests for drivers and training for drivers and bus attendants.
The move was largely driven by the death of a KG1 pupil who was locked inside a bus in October.
Robinson Gnanamony, 47, a school bus driver for American International School, said he was aware of the incident, which he said served as a lesson for him and fellow drivers to be more committed to pupil safety.
“We are carrying kids as young as five years old so we need to be very careful,” he said.
Mr Gnanamony, from Chennai, has lived and worked in the UAE since 1990.
Last week, he joined a group for practical lessons on routine vehicle checks, emergency evacuation and bus loading and unloading.
“We learnt how to cut seat belts in an unlikely event of an accident,” said his colleague, Naushad Subair, 41, who has more than 12 years experience as a school bus driver in Abu Dhabi. “We also learnt how to assist children in boarding and disembarking.”
Abdul Rahman, 30, a Pakistani who has driven for French School Abu Dhabi for three years, also found the training useful.
“I don’t know much about checking tyres and engines,” he said. “It’s important for us to learn to conduct daily vehicle inspections and making sure the children get on and off the bus safely.”
Training through presentations, open discussions and role playing is provided in Arabic, English, Malayalam, Urdu and Pashtu.
“We are trying to raise awareness on how to build a traffic safety culture and comply with school safety standards to keep the children safe,” said Mr Jameel at the EDC.
“It’s now entirely up to them if they want to apply the skills they had learned here.”
rruiz@thenational.ae
