OUR SCHOOL BUS SYSTEM

"Bye Iwan!" Our little Syazwan bade farewell to his school-bus driver as he got off the bus. He was still in Pre-Kindergarten class - so the bus stopped right in front of our apartment and he would only be allowed to alight if we open the apartment's door. He would be ferried back to school for the after-school service if otherwise!

Bus drivers there knew all his / her passengers by name and they also knew the passengers' addresses and who to call in case of emergency.

Best of all, the bus service was FREE! And so were the daily breakfast and lunches.

That was our experience when we were in US.

Compared to them, here in our beloved MALAYSIA our school bus system is still far from satisfactory. That is why it is an almost mandatory chore for parents to send and fetch their children to and back from school daily.

This leads to: i. waste of working time of parents, ii. massive traffic jams near schools

May be we cannot copy what is done in US 100% as over there school bus system is sponsored by state lottery and their class size (student population per class) is small - max. 20).

What I think is the government should step in and find the best way to organize the school bus system.

An effective and student and parents friendly school bus system is what we need urgently now.

Parents will be able to spend more time with their work and less time worrying about getting their children to school and getting them back again after school.