Another wave of accidents involving schoolchildren has brought back the spotlight on their safety during travel. In the past one week alone, two major accidents have taken pace involving learners travelling from school.
In the first case, several children heading home for recess were feared dead and others injured when the driver of the matatu carrying them lost control and the vehicle crashed on the Southern Bypass in Nairobi.
Barely 48 hours later, a school bus full of pupils rolled and crashed. It was reported that 11 children were injured and rushed to hospital. The accident occurred near Kikima market in Makueni.
One can just imagine the anguish of those parents who were overjoyed that their child had just finished the Form Four exams and was now en route to university, only to receive such horrifying news.
There are two issues with school transport. The first is the roadworthiness of school buses. Does the Ministry of Education have any protocols governing the operation of school buses? In much the same way that the ministry has developed and adopted standards for safety in schools, it must do the very same thing with school transport.
Indeed, school transport is a very critical aspect of school safety because school buses are on the move regularly, transporting learners to school activities.
The ministry, in consultation with schools, must also determine the basic requirements for drivers of school buses. Surely, a driver who has barely been on the road for three years does not have the maturity to drive learners in their school buses. It is critical to note that learners are excitable and will even ask the drivers to speed up for the thrill. Drivers of school buses must be mature and experienced.
The second issue is hiring private transport, especially to take learners home for holidays. Schools exercise no control over these buses and matatus that are hired in private arrangements by students.
As such, school administrators have no idea which bus or matatu was hired, its roadworthiness, and who is being taken where. This laissez-faire approach to transporting learners must stop.
Schools must make proper arrangements with the owners of buses and matatus that will transport students when schools close. Among the parameters that schools must satisfy themselves with is whether the hired bus or matatu is roadworthy, whether it belongs to a duly registered and accountable sacco, and whether the driver is qualified and is drug-free.
Working with matatu saccos and formal bus companies will go a long way to enhancing safety of learners when they are using hired transport. The saccos and bus companies can vouch for the roadworthiness of the vehicles to be used, as well as the qualifications and experience of the driver.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos is currently undertaking a comprehensive audit of all boarding schools in a major safety crackdown.
He has directed that 348 schools that were found to be non-compliant with the standards set in the school safety manual after the audit will not be allowed to operate boarding sections from January 2025.
This is the only language that school principals will understand.
Institute a manual for the safety of learners using transport in school, whether school-run or hired. Based on that dynamic, undertake a comprehensive audit of all school buses to determine their roadworthiness. Just like the government has a road check unit for all government and parastatal vehicles, a check unit should be established for school buses.
For hired transport, the matatu sacco or bus company offering its vehicles should be liable for any accident involving their vehicles. If their drivers are found to be reckless in case of an accident, the saccos and bus companies should be banned from ever carrying students again. The ministry must institute a policy of zero tolerance on accidents involving students during school trips.
