Khaled Al-Solaiman
FOR the second time a child has died in a private school bus in Jeddah. The second incident occurred even before the tears of the parents of the first victim may have not dried yet.
The former Education Minister Azzam Al-Dakheel issued a daring and a stern decision to close down the private school and withdraw its license. This was conveying a strong message to all schools that the safety of the students is priceless.
I expected all the officials in all the sectors related to education and student transport to review the procedures of the transport of the students to prevent a recurrence of the incident.
The death of another child in a school bus in less than six month of the death of the first one is enough proof that the issue of the school transport is simmering and its close monitoring was not done at all.
Maybe the court rule to reopen the private school in which bus the first child had died, and the restoration of its license has foiled the message carried by the minister’s decision.
The procedure to monitor the school buses does not cost anything. The driver should check his bus after driving the students to their school to make sure that no student is forgotten on his/her seat.
There should also be a supervisor to make sure that these procedures are carried out to the letter.
Is it too much for the driver or the supervisor to walk few steps inside the bus and to look towards this side and that side to see if any student has not disembarked yet?
It is regrettable that the price of the life of a human being is just few steps and few looks here and there inside the bus after delivery. This will not cost the driver or the supervisor anything at all.
It is painful that a human being will lose his sense of responsibility in any field let alone the lives of the students.
This child, Nawwaf Al-Sulami and the first one Abdul Malik Al-Awad, were precious gifts that were lost to negligence and lack of responsibility.
