"Sharjah for Private Education" warned against non-compliance with transportation regulations

Bullying and overcrowding are at the forefront of student crises inside school buses

Failure to comply with the school transport regulations exposes the school to a violation.

From the source

Families of students in private schools in Sharjah reported that there are problems facing their children inside school buses, topped by overcrowding, which causes a number of younger students to be denied seating, in addition to recurring cases of “bullying” by some students.

The Sharjah Private Education Authority confirmed to "Emirates Today" that crowding inside buses is contrary to the regulation regulating school transport activity, pointing out that it violates schools that do not apply the regulation.

In detail, parents of students complained of problems facing their children inside school buses, including the increase in the number of students on the bus, and the subsequent harassment of younger children.

They explained that the harassment is represented in the desire of students to reserve bus seats for themselves, and not allowing others to use them, in addition to bullying some of them against others, which exposes them to psychological harm and the desire to refrain from using buses to go to school.

The students’ families called on the school administrations to secure a larger number of buses to provide seats for all, in addition to not allowing bullying among the students while they were on the bus.

In turn, the Sharjah Private Education Authority confirmed that crowding students on buses is a violation of the regulation regulating school transport activity, adding that it is keen to adhere to the regulation, its requirements and controls.

She said that she would not hesitate to violate schools that do not implement the school transport regulations, explaining that there is a specific number for the density of students inside the bus, determined by the size of the bus and the number of its seats.

The authority stated that the regulations require each school to provide a school transport coordinator, bus supervisors, and a sam card for tablets provided by the authority to schools for free, while Emirates Transport is training bus coordinators and supervisors to organize children inside the bus.

She added that the authority has precise procedures for dealing with complaints, to ensure a speedy response to them.

For her part, Hanadi Salem Al Yafei, Director of the Child Safety Department at the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah, said that the phenomenon of bullying is one of the issues that the Child Safety Department pays all attention to, and allocates a part of awareness-raising workshop programs to it, whether in schools or at events and occasions, or through Management publications and videos that it prepares and publishes through its accounts on social networking sites.

Such workshops are also organized in festivals and exhibitions to raise awareness to the largest number of children and parents.

She explained that bullying prevention efforts focus on educating both parties, the bully and the bullied, to modify the behavior of the bully, and help the child who is exposed to him by guiding him on how to act to protect himself, avoid bullying, and overcome it in the school or play environment.

She said, “We welcomed the return of children to school this year with a workshop that included tips and instructions to alert supervisors and drivers to follow safety measures to protect children on board the school bus, provide fire extinguishing equipment and ambulance kits, how to act in the event of any fire, and not leave any child on the bus.” And to ensure that it is free of children after the end of the return trip from school, to ensure the safety of children. 

Harassment is represented in the desire of students to reserve bus seats for themselves, and not allowing others to use them.

Bullying prevention efforts focus on the bully and the bullied, to modify the behavior of the first, and help the second to protect himself.

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