JEDDAH: Students reached late or remained absent from schools as the new academic year began because a number of drivers of private buses in Tathleeth and other areas, including in Bisha, have refrained from doing their job, according to a website.

It said that these drivers refrained from doing their duty because their company delayed payment of their salaries last year.

The website has said that it has received a number of messages of the people of Tathleeth complaining that the drivers of private buses did not transport their daughters today. There was no notice also from the girls’ education office.

They said that this has resulted in their daughters reaching schools late or some of them being absent from school.

One of the residents of Al-Jaba center of Bisha said that school students were having transport problem because the bus drivers did not turn up in support of their demand for payment of dues. He said that many students preferred to go along others in their cars to reach schools. Some of them got delayed or did not attend classes due to this.

Residents have demanded that necessary action should be taken to ensure smooth transportation of students, both boys and girls, between their homes and schools. They have stressed that the problems of the drivers should be addressed.

Mohammad Haroon, director of the girls’ education office in Tathleeth, confirmed that the entire means of transportation has come to a standstill resulting in students’ delayed in reaching schools or remaining absent.