School bus driver sacked for misbehaviour
An Indian bus driver at a Dubai school has been fired after he misbehaved with a teacher
Dubai: An Indian bus driver at a Dubai school has been fired after he misbehaved with a teacher.
M.L. Augustine, Managing Director of School Transport Services (STS) which ferries children of the GEMS-owned Kindergarten Starters, said he sacked the driver after one of the school's teachers complained that he had misbehaved with her.
He said: "We received an incident report last week in which this allegation came to light. We immediately requested the principal to investigate. Based on the inquiry findings, we terminated the services of the driver."
A GEMS Education spokesperson said, "An allegation of misconduct was levelled against a school bus driver by a staff member at the Kindergarten Starters school. The school investigated and provided the results of that investigation to the transport company. Based on that report the company terminated the driver's employment."
The driver had been working with STS for the past four years. "We have a zero tolerance when it comes to our bus staff misbehaving. Any unacceptable behaviour by any of them should be reported to us so that we can take prompt action," said Augustine.
He said STS has around 1,400 bus staff who are given rigorous training on all aspects of duty, including proper conduct. "Should there still be any untoward incident, we have a system in place to detect it and act upon it. I need the support of all stakeholders to ensure that our buses are safe," added Augustine.
Earlier, STS, which carries over 50,000 schoolchildren in the UAE daily, installed thousands of high-tech cameras in its buses after an Indian mother alleged that her four-year-old daughter, a student of the Dubai Modern High School, was molested by a bus driver and two conductors. A Dubai court later acquitted them following investigations.
