Many parents have written letters of complaint to school management after bus drivers routinely failed to alert children of their stop.

School bus drivers at international schools in the Kingdom often fail to drop kids at their stop when children fall asleep during the drive.

Many parents have claimed that this is a matter of negligence by school authorities.

Muhammad Anvesh Khan, an industrial engineer working with PEB operations in Dammam, told Arab News, “My daughter Zehaan goes to school at the Indian International School in Dammam (IISD). When she fell asleep during the ride home, the bus driver and the conductor didn’t check and failed to drop her at home. When my wife told me that our daughter had not come home, I called the school, but nobody answered. Finally, my neighbor ran behind the bus and got Zehaan off.”

Khan wrote a letter to the IISD principal following the incident on Oct. 2. He said, “I am still awaiting a reply.”

Shameem Ahmad, a Bangladeshi expatriate who is working in Riyadh, said many parents are worried about the lack of transparency in the transport system and the callous attitude of staff. This needs to be addressed properly, as it is a cause for concern for working parents, he added.

“I usually call home to make sure that my child has arrived home,” he said.

Faizan Ahmad, another parent in Riyadh, urged administrations of international schools to take notice of such incidents to prevent them from recurring.

“Children often inform bus staff that their friend is asleep and tell them he should be dropped at the next stop. Bus staff should be alert about each child’s stop and drop them at their home,” Ahmad said.

“This is a serious problem and firing bus staff is not a solution. The problem lies in the system. If the school management committee really wants to improve, then they need to improve the transportation system itself.”