The safety of schoolchildren is a shared responsibility. Parents, teachers, school management, and transport operators involved in picking up and dropping off the students are responsible for their safety. Being part of society, common people must also be alert even if their wards are not studying in schools.
In most cases, carelessness is the cause of accidents. But the trauma it leaves behind is unbearable and unacceptable.
According to a report published by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), 24 children under the age of 7 years died in road accidents while 84 children were injured, which is 5.3 per cent of the total traffic accident victims in 2021.
Accidents are bad, but it becomes worse when it involves school-going children. For no fault of theirs, they become the victims of a situation, leaving everyone in a state of shock.
Keeping this in mind, the Ministry of Education has urged everyone to be watchful for the safety of the children.
“Crisis happens, but care and attention make the whole difference,” said Dr Bakhait bin Ahmed al Mahri, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
According to him, there should be awareness among the people to avoid accidents. “There should be foresight to prevent accidents,” he says.
“For me, institutions, family, parents and teachers must pay attention to the children. We need to remind ourselves to be careful against such dangers,” he adds.
At a meeting, school authorities called upon all the parties to be careful about children when they are around the bus, inside or outside the classrooms, playground and the like.
Al Nahdha School for Basic Education in the Wilayat of Al Amerat convened a meeting of all the parties to find out the ways to meet the situation and gave instructions to the bus operators and staff.
“We called upon the transport committee and the bus drivers to find out the most important developments and gave instructions for the transport operation. During the meeting, the stress was on security and safety requirements and a system of alert while transporting students,” Yousuf al Rahbi, Head of the Public Schools, told the Observer.
Earlier, Dr Ali al Jahwari, Director of Education, Muscat Governorate, had said that the Ministry was committed to the safety and security of children, and it registered concerns over the safety of the children, as the student who died in a run-over accident was unfortunate.
“No negligence and recklessness on the bus driver’s part or from anyone will be tolerated,” he added.
Drivers have been urged to make sure that the children get down at the same side of their house and not otherwise. By doing this, they are saved from crossing the roads.
As far as child safety at home and swimming pools is concerned, parents should be watchful of their children, especially below 12 years of age, just as they need to be vigilant about their children crossing wadis or playing in water ponds when it’s raining, and flash floods are formed. Many drowning incidents involving children were reported from many wilayats.
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