JEDDAH: The school transport project in Makkah province is steadily gaining ground with 56,108 girl students enrolling in the scheme since its launch at the beginning of the current academic year, said Marwan Hussain Al-Sulaiman, director of the project in Makkah. He added that 3,000 new girl students were currently being registered in the program.
Al-Sulaiman made the remarks after a meeting yesterday to discuss issues concerning the project with Ahmed Hariri, assistant director of girls education in Jeddah, and other officials.
The project, which is called Al-Ameen (Trustworthy) as it offers transportation to schoolgirls in a safe and culturally appropriate manner, is aimed at lessening the time that parents spend shuttling their children to school.
The government has set aside SR3 billion for the entire initiative, which started as a pilot project in Madinah to shuttle 19,000 girls in 303 schools. Since the beginning of this academic year, schoolgirls in seven provinces are being picked up from home and returned daily by school buses.
“The school transport project is in great demand particularly from girl students living in areas which are not so far covered by the service. This is an indication of the success of the project that will help in reducing the number of cars on our roads during peak hour traffic,” Hariri said.
He said the service would be enhanced further through linking embarkation points to a control room using advanced technology. He said digital maps and post office boxes would be used to enable students to register in the appropriate embarkation points.
The control rooms at the regional school administrations will oversee and monitor the movement of buses on a daily basis. The control rooms will be responsible for solving likely problems, such as breakdowns and accidents.
Hariri said special boarding cards would be issued at the beginning of next academic year to avoid crowding in buses.
Al-Sulaiman added that drivers and other people involved in the project would be trained on safety measures to ensure the highest degree of protection for the girls.
