Let’s end this, please
No amount of words or actions can justify what happened to the innocent child who went to school and died trapped in her school bus (‘Girl, 4, dies in school bus in Abu Dhabi,’ Gulf News, October 8). I cannot imagine the pain her parents and relatives are going through. We, as readers, have been haunted by such horror stories for a very long time now.
It’s shocking that there have been four similar incidents recently. We cannot stay silent anymore to such heinous and irresponsible acts. We need to request the school authorities to step in and take some much needed action, so that we don’t have to repeatedly hear about the unfortunate losses of more innocent lives.
The school should have to keep a telephone log to record any child absent on a normal working day and make it mandatory for parents to call and log their child’s absence from class. If an absence has not been reported by a parent, it could be realised by a teacher within a half hour of the child leaving home. With such actions valuable time and valuable information could be collected and help the school save a precious life.
From Mr Mohan John Thomas
Abu Dhabi
Need action!
This is completely intolerable. Being a parent myself, I cannot imagine the grief the parents of that child are going through. Enough is enough. When will this end? Why are there not stronger measures to tackle this issue? The attendant and school should be held responsible with heavy fines and punishments. This shows that these school businesses have absolutely no regard for our children’s lives. How many more lives need to be lost for there to be substantial action taken?
From Mr Zeeshan
Dubai
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No possible excuse
This is absolutely not acceptable. The attendant didn’t check the bus after all the children left. There is no excuse good enough that will justify the loss of this child. I can only imagine the grief her parents are going through. It is such a shame that this is still happening after two previous incidents have already occurred. No one has learnt anything from it.
As a mother, I have goose bumps just thinking of it. The bus driver and the attendant should be severely punished, so this doesn’t happen again. I don’t think any excuse should be given consideration. My deepest sympathy to the parents.
From Ms Shamsun
Sharjah
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Tragic and preventable
This is tragic and preventable. Why were the parents not called by the school when the child did not show up? Where are school bus registrations and checklists? The authorities need to check the qualifications of the staff driving and supervising school buses. This is such a tragedy that could have been easily prevented had proper procedures been in place.
From Ms Lynda Gaenssler
UAE
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Strict procedures
It looks like there is no end to the negligence, even when there are strict laws in place. Punishment comes later, but how do we save innocent lives from such disasters? I think that the driver is responsible, but what were the school’s procedures and why weren’t they implemented? A checklist is required for each trip to be followed and certified by a transport supervisor before locking the bus.
I also wonder why the doors had to be locked on the bus? We need to find some other mechanism to ensure that the children can still escape a locked bus. We can also change the design of the doors so that children can open and get out easily. All these suggestions are additional to the necessary adjustments to management’s strict compliance to procedures.
From Mr Venumadhav
Abu Dhabi
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Makes me so sad!
Being a mother of a four year old, I cannot express how sad this makes me feel! Why should more lives be at stake because of people’s careless and irresponsible attitude? I really pray to God that the parents can be consoled. Also, I hope the authorities step in to ensure a full inspection so that such incidents don’t happen again in the future.
From Ms Leena Samuel
Abu Dhabi
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Too young to board
This is heartbreaking. I cannot stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks. Another angel has fallen victim to negligence. These little children are too young to board a school bus at 6.30am. She may have fallen asleep and was then left unattended in the bus. Prayers for the grieving family.
From Mr Ahmad
Dubai
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Compulsory implementations
Even after repeated incidents, the school managements have not learnt. It’s high time some control needs to be put in place - compulsorily by the authorities to have daily checks on the status of each child. There should also be compulsory provisions for ventilation in all buses. Even seatbelts are not worn in many school and nursery buses. It’s not right.
From Mr Aravind Mohanan
Dubai
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Rights for girl children
In many places in the world, girls are not treated equally with boys. Girls have to face many challenges in society, including violence and discrimination. The UN took an important step to put an end to such injustices when it declared October 11th as the International Day of the Girl Child. This day focuses on the challenges faced by girls, and highlights their rights.
The newspapers have a lot to report on the safety of young girls - challenges and threats of rape and abuse. In many primitive areas, a young girl is considered a curse. A girl child is made to listen to remarks of contempt: “A girl? Why not a son?” When she enters the world and even before she can see and identify the world around her, she is killed or abandoned.
Every girl has the right to live and grow up to be someone who is meant to be successful. Since I am a girl, I feel so lucky that I have no obstacles like this to face in life.
There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done to ensure that all girls receive the same opportunity in education and that each girl is empowered to believe that she is part of the next generation of change-makers.
A single Malala Yousafzai is not enough to get rights for all girls, especially the right of education for girls. Every lucky girl on this planet needs to bring out our inner Yousafzai that is hiding within us. We need to help out the less fortunate girls who are either married as children or made to face trafficking.
From Ms Maria Vincent
Dubai
Equality needs equal opportunity
If all humans were born with the same qualities, true equality would be possible. How could our social life be shaped? So I think that the law of Nature is understandable. Different people are gifted with different qualities by Nature. When it comes to equality, I believe that equality could prevail in a society where all humans, regardless of gender, religion, race and ethnicity had the same opportunities to develop their abilities and qualities.
From Ms Zeba Hussain
UAE
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Contextually dependent
I believe that men and women can be equal to a point. I have done a lot of research on this topic. Truthfully speaking, I’ve found countless issues with the statement I have heard all too many times: “A male and a female can never be equal.” But, we should obviously remind ourselves that there is a point of circumstantial context where a woman is superior to a man and vice versa.
From Mr Syed Hassan Porag
Dhaka, Bangladesh
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Beautiful car!
The recent purchase of a vintage car by a Saudi businessman is very interesting (‘Saudi businessman pays $100,000 for vintage car,’ Gulf News, October 7). What a beautiful old car! Paying $100,000 (Dh367,300) is actually not that expensive considering what we’re looking at. I myself bought a painting a few years ago - a Jackson Pollock 136cm x 145cm oil on canvas, signed by Jackson Pollock. It is worth much more than what I paid for it now. How lucky one can be!
From Mr Niels Lundgreen
Copenhagen, Denmark
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