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Act now on school transport problem
2008-04-30 09:07:26
By Editor
The problem of transport for school children in Dar es Salaam is not new. There was a time when the government directed that every commuter bus should carry at least three children.
However, operators of the daladalas defied the order and the bad thing is: both the adult population and the government itself are not sensitive about the matter.
At times, the students are harassed by the touts when the adults are simply watching, and that is why the students have now become hostile to the extent of taking the law into their own hands.
Students are beating up the touts because they feel that both the society and the government are not supporting them.
They have thus opted to defend themselves against unruly bus touts.
This is a very sad and dangerous development. The children are the country’s future leaders.
They should not be forced into circumstances that make them believe that every problem can be solved by violence.
Most of the school children in Dar es Salaam usually wake up at around 4.00am and return home at 9.00pm or later, while they are totally exhausted.
The daladala operators refuse to take them on board simply because they pay less bus fare than adults.
Under these circumstances, do we expect our pupils to concentrate?
Much as we commend the government`s decision to establish secondary schools in every ward, we still think the issue of transport should be addressed with the seriousness it deserves if these schools have to produce good results.
In the early 90s, there was a school bus project that was run by the CCM youth wing, but was eventually mismanaged.
At that time, there were very few students, but the government saw the need to ensure available transport for students.
Now it beats one`s imagination that despite the fact that the number of both students and commuter buses has increased, the government has adopted a business as usual attitude and—quite unluckily—left the school transport problem to be solved by market forces, which are totally insensitive to the plight of poor school children.
Even the advanced capitalist countries guarantee the availability of transport for their students.
Tanzania has not reached the stage of capitalism of those countries, why then do we allow our children, who are our future leaders, to be at the mercy of the forces of trade. Which kind of society are we creating?
Much as we are compelled to assume that a school bus project is in the pipeline, we believe that, at the moment, if the commuter buses are managed properly, they can accommodate the pupils without any problem.
Our impression is that what is lacking in our society is the setting of right priorities, that if we really feel that we have to adequately facilitate our children in matters of education, then the government is quite able of delivering on this issue.
Let us help our children by creating a society of civilized people that is permanently sensitive to the plight of its school children.
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