Abu Dhabi: Parents in the capital have welcomed the closure decision for the school that saw a four-year-old girl die earlier this month after being forgotten on a bus in sweltering conditions.

The closure decision for the school that the deceased Nizaha Aalaa attended, Al Worood Academy Private School, was announced on Tuesday by the emirate’s education sector regulator, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec). The school will continue operations until August 31, 2015, but all its financial and administrative matters will be handled by the Adec.

“I have heard that the school was negligent in a lot of matters, and could not execute the simple task of ensuring that the bus was empty before locking up. As a parent, I would never trust such an institution, and it is better that it is shut down,” Zeinab Ataya, a media executive from Lebanon, told Gulf News.

The 28-year-old mother-of-one said that the penalty will also be a warning to other schools that do not prioritise child safety.

According to reports from Aalaa’s parents, schools authorities did not contact them on the fateful day to inform them that their daughter had not reached school.

“Had they received such a call, a tragedy could have been averted. This is serious negligence, and the decision is more than apt,” Ataya added.

Despite the revamp of school transport regulations in the emirate last year, the recent incident has caused parents to lose their trust in the safety of the system.

“Since the tragedy, I have seen many mothers speak sternly to drivers and bus attendants in the morning as they hand over their children, urging them to ensure that their children disembark from the vehicle safely,” said one resident who declined to be named.

Another working mother, O.U., said her child does not yet attend school, but she will drop him off herself when he starts classes.

Bijith Kumar, 40, an engineer from India, also said that the school’s administration was responsible for allowing the tragedy to occur.

“My six-year-old son gets on his bus at nearly 6am and on many days, he falls asleep during the one-hour ride to school. We rely on bus attendants to ensure that they leave the bus, and on teachers or supervisors to inform us if they haven’t reached,” he said.

“This particular school obviously did not pay attention to safety requirements, and deserves to be shut down,” he said.

The closure decision will impact the nearly 2,300 pupils who are currently enrolled at the school, but the Adec has tasked the Al Worood administration with providing support required to find alternative admission by the start of the next academic year.