By Waseem Camroodeen
On 6th February, Alpha Primary held an urgent stakeholders discussion regarding regular harrowing “safety violations” happening during daily pupil drop-offs and pick-ups at the school.
Principal Hasina Mahomed emphasised that Alpha’s 950 learners safety’s “very important”, with her school creating two clearly designated dispatch points meant for “efficiency”.
“Learners waiting (to be fetched) are only safe within the school” she said, appealing to transporters “to play their part” whilst bemoaning the troubling issue of some young learners walking to Alpha from the relatively-distant Engen filling station “exchange” near Lenasia’s Abu Asvat Drive entry point.
“Alpha expects kids to be dropped off here, drivers to be respectful and courteous to set a good example to them; with Friday 12pm being our worst time,” she mentioned, adding that scholar patrollers are already “recording miscreants who violate safety”.
In charge of scholar patrol at Alpha is Mr. Tayob who humbly appealed that “rules should be obeyed”. Officer Phiri of JMPD spoke next, emphasising that “punctuality will ensure safety” as transporters service multiple schools, which “tends to cause rushing (leading to violations)”.
“Kids should not be carried in bakkies,” she demanded and then slated apparent instances of some drivers allegedly sleeping with high school girls in parks. She was critical too of transporters allegedly blaring “loud music” during waiting periods and how some kids during it could become vulnerable into inadvertently purchasing drugs allegedly laced in sweets by some vendors. “Parents should be wary of that…and transporters need to have PRDP.”
Her colleague Sergeant Mbewu demanded “vehicles should be roadworthy” and “overloading’s a concern in microbus such as placing kids in the boot, closer to the engine, that’s dangerous.”
She said a First Aid Kit’s mandatory in transport carriages and Jo’burg EMS can assist with its certification.
“It’s easier for transporters to belong to an association, helpful especially in terms of breakdowns etc,” Sergeant continued, adding: “All kids should be wearing seat belts,” before describing a viral video showing almost 60 kids emerging from one particular vehicle.
She exhorted parents to be proactive in thoroughly ensuring their children are being safely transported.
“At Alpha, each child’s required to include transporter’s details on page one of diaries given to them by our school,” said Principal Mahomed, who said on numerous occasions learners get left behind, due possibly to transporters missing the kids altogether, and she exhorts them to return again, after collecting pupils from other schools, to come observe if any outstanding kids are still at her school, where in some instances children have been found waiting there until 9pm.
Mr. Lawrence of Alpha’s affiliated G Unit Security described distressing safety violations members of his security regularly observe, with his main concern being those kids left behind by drivers. “Transporters should be fully aware of all the kids being transported for that day and should not be negligent in this regard,” he said, explaining that anyone pretending to be a parent could come collect the child, and this “creates tremendous stress and concern to our security staff”.
A worrying concluding aspect was that of the MMC for Safety contemplating bringing in specialised busses to transport school pupils which would result in numerous job losses for incumbent transporters, hence the need for vital safety improvements from their side.
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