School bus safety system to be launched today
Times News Service
MUSCAT: The Ministry of Education will launch an electronic system to track school buses in the Sultanate from today.
The system includes a number of services, such as informing parents when the bus leaves the school and when it approaches the student’s home, in addition to informing the school if a student is present on the bus when it arrives at the school.
The Ministry of Education said in a statement: “The importance of the project is to enable the Ministry of Education and parents to verify the safety of their children remotely through digital solutions, which include tracking the operation of school buses and their speed, and notifying the parents when the bus leaves the school and is approaching the student’s home.”
The application will also notify the school in case a student has been left or forgotten on the bus after it reaches the school and is parked. The school administration and [services] in the directorates of education [will be notified] if the bus derails.
Inauguration
The project will be inaugurated under the patronage of Dr. Madeeha bint Ahmed bin Nassir Al Shaibaniyah, Minister of Education, on Monday morning. The launch of the “Darb Al Salama” project is a result of the various partnerships between the Ministry of Education and Omantel.
“The consolidation of partnership with public and private sector organisations is a focal point for the company. The rapid development of information and communication technologies is opening the way for dramatic changes in people’s lifestyles,” said Talal Bin Saeed Al Ma’amari, Chief Executive Officer of Omantel.
Recently, Haya Water signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education to finance the installation of a tracking system for school buses. The system aims at protecting the lives of the students and reducing undesired accidents.
It also has many other advantages, for example, increasing the safety level in school buses by improving the bus drivers’ performance and ensuring their compliance with traffic safety rules.
Even Oman Liquefied Natural Gas Company has started installing safety devices in school buses in the South Sharqiyah Governorate. According to officials, the new devices cover 296 buses and target at least 1,200 students.
“These novel devices, covering 296 buses in the South Sharqiyah Governorate, will include a GPS tracker, a controller to start and stop the bus, and a motion detection alarm system in case a student is left inside the bus,” according to the Liquefied Natural Gas Company.
In 2016, a toddler died after the driver forgot to drop him to his school in Seeb. In 2015, a fouryear-old girl died from suffocation after being left alone on a bus in Bidbid, near Nizwa. In 2018, an eight-year-old Sudanese boy died after he was locked inside a bus in Ruwi for a couple of hours.