Need to manage school buses
The school bus model is being implemented in many localities throughout the province. However, this is still a spontaneous model without the coordination of management between schools and local authorities.
Developing a shuttle model
After the school bell rings, hundreds of students of Nghi Loc 2 High School (Nghi Loc district) flock to the small road on the left side of the school gate. Here, there are usually nearly 10 vehicles every day.shuttle busStudents in communes such as Nghi Hung, Nghi Thuan, Nghi Dong, Nghi Hoa... go to school.
These buses are directly connected by parents to the bus station and take students from home to school and vice versa. Currently, there are more than 300 students of the school traveling by bus.
The shuttle bus model of Nghi Loc 2 High School was implemented based on actual needs. Because the school's enrollment area is currently quite large, there are places where students go to school nearly 15 km away from home. This is a route with many potential safety risks, especially the sections passing through N5 road. To ensure the safety of their children, many parents in the communes have directly contacted the bus companies to hire buses to take their children to school every day.
According to teacher Dang Quoc Chi - Vice Principal of the school: Although this is just a spontaneous model, having a shuttle bus has helped students go home on time, avoid going back and forth in a short time and ensure traffic safety.
At Nam Xuan Primary School (Nam Dan District), although the school's students are mainly children from the commune, up to now there are 4 buses to pick up and drop off students during the day. The users of the buses are usually children of workers who work far away or workers working in industrial parks in Nam Dan and Hung Nguyen District.
With a monthly cost of about 350,000 VND per student, many parents believe that this fee is reasonable, even cheaper than the cost of motorbikes if they have to pick up and drop off their children 4 times a day. Along with the shuttle buses, there will be an additional person responsible for checking attendance and reminding the children while the bus is on the road.
Most of the parents in my neighborhood work in the factory and leave very early. Working hours in industrial zones are also very tight so parents cannot go home early or pick up their children in the middle of the day. Based on this need, parents in the neighborhood have contacted and contracted for us to pick them up and drop them off.
The process was quite smooth because the children on the bus were all from the same neighborhood, they went to the same class, the same school and grew up together so they knew each other. Every day, the bus picked up and dropped off the children at the same location in the center of the neighborhood and the children strictly followed the bus company's pick-up and drop-off regulations.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen - bus company representative
Strengthening coordination in management work
According to the Department of Education and Training, up to now, the whole province has about 100 school buses. Of which, Vinh city has the most with 26 buses. In addition, many other localities also have school buses such as Cua Lo town (9 buses), Nam Dan (8 buses), Hoang Mai town (10 buses), Thai Hoa town (6 buses), Nghi Loc (6 buses), Hung Nguyen (9 buses). Districts such as Tan Ky, Anh Son, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Nghi Loc each have from 2 to 6 buses.
Initial statistics show that currently only a few private schools use school buses. The rest are mainly contracted by parents with bus companies on a spontaneous basis. This also causes problems in managing school buses, although this is a special mode of transport, stemming from actual needs.
At Nghia Hanh Secondary School, Tan Ky, there is currently a shuttle bus rented by parents in Doi Cung hamlet every day to transport students at a monthly cost of 400,000 - 500,000 VND. Vehicle management is done by the driver and students on the bus. Mr. Loc Van Thuong - the bus owner also said: "The children who take our bus are all of middle school age, so they are aware of traffic. The bus company also shows responsibility when picking up and dropping off the children, because they are all children in the commune and relatives of the family".
Through the actual use of school buses, teacher Dang Quoc Chi - Principal of Nghi Loc 2 High School said: Currently, the school bus service is completely connected by parents and the school does not perform the intermediary step. To ensure the safety of students, at parent meetings or working with the parent representative committee, we always remind parents to request the bus companies to strictly implement the regulations on traffic safety, especially not to overload or carry more people than the regulations.
Meanwhile, at Nam Xuan Primary School (Nam Dan), during the implementation process, the school created conditions for the shuttle buses to have stops or coordinated to propagate and remind students to be aware when using the shuttle buses. However, management is still beyond the control of the school.
Our school has a rule that if parents use the shuttle bus, they must sign a clear contract with the bus company to ensure safety and pick up and drop off on time, instruct children on how to get on and off the bus, and immediately notify the homeroom teacher when absent from school.
The bus company must sign a commitment with parents to ensure safety when picking up and dropping off students. The school must clearly arrange parking times and parking spots so as not to affect other parents and students.
Teacher Nguyen Thi Thuy Van - Principal of Nam Xuan Primary School
To ensure the safety of shuttle buses, the Department of Transport is currently coordinating with relevant departments and agencies to conduct inspections of vehicles being used as shuttle buses. Initial results show that most of the vehicles are in good condition and are under the management of local authorities and functional agencies.
However, to use the shuttle buses properly, coordination and supervision from many related parties is needed.
Although the final inspection results are not yet available, we are planning to propose to the Department of Education and Training and local authorities to strengthen management, especially the need for supervision and coordination from schools in managing school buses. That will contribute to raising the responsibility of the bus company during the implementation process, ensuring absolute safety for the buses, avoiding unfortunate incidents.
Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung - Chief Inspector of the Department of Transport