On the first day of the 2022-23 academic year on Sunday, a Class X student of a school in Mabela died when she was hit by a speeding car while she was getting off the school bus. Safety of school transport is an issue that often comes to the fore when there is an unfortunate accident involving school children. With over 700,000 students returning to 1,242 schools for the new academic year on Sunday, it is pertinent to talk about the issue as many parents fret every day about the safety of their children taking school buses. Here is what Muscat Daily readers had to say on what do they think about school transportation:

Mohammed al Balushi
Private sector employee

I am not very worried about the school transport system. I trust the drivers very well as I have known them since the last few years. Also, the school authorities take good care of the children and their respective transportation.

Sulaiman al Abri
Businessman

I am more worried about the traffic and the peak hours more than school transportation issue. Sometimes other vehicles engage in rash driving mainly in the morning that is what concerns me. But the drivers are very good professionally as well as personally.

Santosh Verma
Accountant

Yes, I do remain little worried for the transportation for my son. There have been many instances where bus drivers have been callous and that caused several accidents. Though the school takes all the effort to educate all drivers and look ino the condition of their buses, I remain little worried and so does my wife.

Anwar Abdullah
Private company employee

I don’t trust some of the drivers. They are very rash ones, mainly the young ones. I hope and expect schools to take more care while recruiting drivers. Yes, I remain worried at times.

Saada al Naamani
Housewife

My children’s school is near our home and so we don’t need transportation. But I know many of my family members, who opt for transport, remain worried. We had bad instances of accidents in the past and often news about accidents haunt us.

Iqbal Khan
Businessman

Normally, I drop my children to school but I have many friends whose children go in private transportation. I must say that often such drivers manage multiple jobs and so they hurry and rush to school; this is actually scary and we need to be wary of such transporters.