By JADE RUSSELL
jrussell@tribunemedia.net
IN an effort to curb after-school violence, 28 bus drivers have partnered with the Ministry of Education in the launch of its public-school bus programme.
The pilot phase of the programme started on Tuesday with 15 schools in New Providence that allowed students to use the public bus system on campus.
Chief Superintendent Chaswell Hanna, coordinator of the school policing programme for the Royal Bahamas Police Force, said yesterday the initiative is targeted to combat after school violence.
CSP Hanna stressed there has been a trend of students getting into arguments with one another while they are either waiting at the bus stop or walking home.
Videos have circulated recently on social media of students fighting each other in the street while still dressed in their school uniform.
“We tried to come up with a creative idea to reduce the number of these fights and incidents that occur after school. What we found when we analysed the trends was that a number of these fights involve students who were walking to the bus stop, or waiting on the bus at a bus stop,” CSP Hanna said.
He said the public-school bus programme will prevent fights from happening by allowing students to be directly picked up from their designated campus.
CSP Hanna added that each principal of the various schools identified which buses and routes the students usually take, adding it helped in the bus drivers being placed effectively.
Shavanna Darville, principal of SC McPherson Junior High School said the programme has had a good start.
“We’ve run this for the past two days. This is day three of this initiative. And you can see the pleasure in the faces of our students as they enter the bus right here on the campus,” Ms Darville said.
She explained that before the programme, many students were forced to walk long distances just to get to a bus stop.
“Most of our students would have to walk almost a half a mile to catch the bus that will be taking them over to the Carmichael Road area. Additionally, they would have competed with buses, who would have the regular public driving along with them. So space would have been a problem and issue for our students,” Ms Darville said.
Drivers involved in the programme must have a public service licence that is up to date. Drivers are also encouraged to be a positive role model to the students.
Students are still required to pay a bus fee but will have the benefit of the bus arriving to them on campus.
For his part, Rudolph Taylor, the Bahamas Unified Bus Drivers Union’s (BUDU) president, said he hopes that the programme will help to show bus drivers in a more positive way.
Mr Taylor said: “We know in the media there’s always been something negative about the bus drivers and the buses on the way they conduct themselves.
“So, this is one way that we can see that we can get it done. And can show that we are positive in the way that we traverse with the children on our streets.”
The bus programme is set to continue for the rest of the school semester. Officials said adjustments will be made where needed.
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