JOHNSON NZIOKA: Changes not sensible, recipe for more costs

Source: The Star

Kenya Primary School Headteachers Association (Kepsha) national chairperson Johnson Nzioka flanked by other officials during a press briefing in Mombasa on Monday.

Image: CHARLES MGHENYI

The Kenya Primary School Heads Association is concerned about the rampant road accidents involving school buses.

We treasure the lives of the young ones who use these vehicles on crucial academic and extra-curricular engagements.

Even so, we hope that any measures the government is taking to provide security to our children make great sense, practically and economically.

I had a glimpse at the proposed rules to make school transport better, but what kind of security they provide is what would help. When you talk of writing and colour, what security do they provide? What security do colours bring on the road? If it is about enforcing speed control gadgets, I would support it.

We don't want measures which don't assist in making our children safe. Some of the rules just add to the cost of maintaining the school bus. Whoever is making rules should be aware that anything that comes into play doesn't involve additional funds.

If we are taking costs up to keep the buses, then we could simply be saying that the buses should be off the roads.

We wish they said they would form a special unit of traffic officers to enforce compliance with the existing rules. I wouldn't have any problem with that. But we should not wake up and say install this and that, put this on the body and other things which don't help.

I see the justification for some adjustments is for monitoring the location of children. Parents should know the location of their children - either they are at school or at home. Which other location do they want parents to trace their children to?

The best monitoring a parent can do is to drop their child at school and pick them up. But cameras in buses sound like an additional burden to parents who are already collapsing under the weight of other burdens. Transport service providers will most definitely pass the additional expenses to the parents.

The measures have a ripple effect. The NTSA just needs to think ahead to see the plight of parents who will carry the extra expenses.