In February, about 22 students and a teacher returning from an excursion died in a collision in Kano. They were from a school in Bauchi and had gone to a radio station. According to onlookers, the bus conveying the students and the truck it collided with were moving at a high speed. In a bid for both of them to avoid a pothole, the collision happened, 23 people died.
Now, the questions, should students be allowed to go for excursions? What can school owners do when hiring external drivers? How should internal school buses be maintained? How can school owners put drivers in check to ensure student safety?
Excursions are a very good way to pass on knowledge to students. In itself it shouldn’t be a problem but we have to be intentional about the safety of lives placed in our care.
1) Own a school bus
It is easier to control something within your sphere of influence than that which is outside. With your own school bus you know what works and what doesn’t and so you can plan ahead.
2) Maintain your school bus
Every school bus should have periodic maintenance. We should not wait for something to breakdown before we check the vehicle status. We also should not manage certain functions e.g. the brake. If it is bad, it is bad. Get it checked
3) Put drivers in check
Everything might be working well but if we have drivers who take unnecessary risks, we’d still have a problem. Therefore we need to have our drivers properly trained and an assistant who serves to both caution and ensure children are protected. At the just concluded School Safety Summit, the Road Safety staff taught attendees that when someone alights from a vehicle you are driving, you must wait to hear the door get shut then visually check before you drive off.
4) Audit external buses
Before you use externally owned buses for an excursion with students, you must conduct an audit of the vehicle. Check all parts are working properly and check training records of drivers. You can even demand to see the vehicle in motion because if you’re paying for a service, you might as well get a good one.
No one sends their children to school to die so we have to be intentional about the safety of children in schools.
