UAE pupils suffer from their life on the road

Dubai: Fatima Mohammad, a UAE national grade 9 pupil attending a public school, said that she travels in a non air-conditioned school bus and is exhausted by the traffic congestion.

"It is like a furnace inside the bus while coming home from school," she told Gulf News. "We have complained to the school authorities but so far nothing has been done to make life easier for us."

Hind Al Hashemi talked about the number of pupils that travel with her in the school bus. "Some pupils have to stand and travel all the way to school," she said. "This makes it all the more suffocating inside the bus as there is no air-conditioning."

Omray DomPaul, a year 13 pupil at Westminster School, spends most of his time in bus watching movies on his iPod, trying to ease the frustration and stress of traffic congestion.

Huda Albatat, who leaves home at 6am and reaches school at 7.45am, said her school day is exerted mostly during the early traffic flow of Sharjah.

'Unpredictable'

"You can't arrange for any appointments during the week as the traffic flow in Dubai and Sharjah is very unpredictable," said Cicily Roy.

"In the morning the bus is dead silent as almost everyone is asleep, especially the young ones," said Aamir Sajwani, adding that traffic is impacting family relationships as most of them are exhausted by the stress of traffic.