Parents, school managers react to police inspection of school buses
What you need to know:
- “We want all the owners, managers and drivers of schools that own buses to ensure that they bring their vehicles ready for the inspection…,”
Dar es Salaam. Parents and school managers yesterday suggested ways to prevent accidents involving school buses.
Their suggestions come as the Police Force launched a nationwide inspection to prevent accidents that have been taking students’ lives while injuring others.
Road Traffic Department yesterday announced the national inspection of school buses to ensure that when schools reopen, students would transit safely to and from school.
This comes amid concerns regarding the road worthiness of some school buses reflecting the accident that killed eight pupils of King David Primary School and two adults recently in Mikindani, Mtwara.
The accident reminded Tanzanians of similar incidents involving school buses in the past, including one that claimed lives of dozens of pupils in Arusha in 2017.
“We want all the owners, managers and drivers of schools that own buses to ensure that they bring their vehicles ready for the inspection…,” reads part of the statement released yesterday, setting it as the start of the exercise.
The statement further noted that strict legal measures would be taken against owners, drivers or managers who do not comply with the requirement.
Reacting, Dr Amos Mcherwa, a co-owner of a school in Dar es Salaam appreciated the move, but urged that the exercise needed to be a sustainable one.
“In future, we don’t need to be notified by the police about the exercise which is their responsibility. They need to do their job as per the laws of the land,” he said.
He noted that vehicles do break down from time to time, and hence, the need to carry out the checks more frequently and sometimes unannounced.
“Every one should play their role well all the time starting with owners and the police,” he told The Citizen by phone.
For her part, a resident of Segerea in Dar es Salaam, Ms Selina Njovu, said just as the up-country buses were being checked on a daily basis, it was important to do the same with school buses as well.
“Commuter buses that are being hired to carry students should be banned. The truth is that most of those buses never get inspected properly and they are always on the road,” she said.
